STarT-Back and ODI outcomes, explained
How two validated instruments show the redirected patients were genuinely helped, not just cleared from a queue.
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Clinical evidence · Research note
STarT-Back and ODI outcomes, explained
How two validated instruments show the redirected patients were genuinely helped, not just cleared from a queue.
A faster wait that produced worse answers would be a poor trade. This research note explains the two instruments used to check that it did not: the STarT-Back tool, which stratifies the risk of back pain becoming chronic, and the Oswestry Disability Index, which scores functional disability over time.
Both moved in the right direction across the spine-pathway cohort, which is the evidence that earlier, structured assessment heads off the slide from acute to chronic that long waits encourage. The note sets out how each measure is read and why, paired with 92 percent satisfaction, they make the result hard to dismiss.
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The spine pathway results, in detail
The spine pathway results, in detail
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