1048 Patient and Clinician Satisfaction with Urology Telephone Consultations During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

AimTo establish the level of both patient and clinician satisfaction with regard to the newly implemented telephone clinics and determine ways in which the service can be improved. The telephone clinics have been implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic within the urology department at a busy university hospital.MethodAn online and paper questionnaire was distributed to patients who received a telephone consultation between April and August 2020. A similar online questionnaire was distributed to urology staff undertaking telephone consultations.Results44 patient responses were received, with 8 clinician responses. 72% of patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the telephone clinic service provided. The same proportion of patients received their appointment on schedule. 98% of patients could hear and understand the information relayed to them. 78% of patients would opt for a telephone clinic in the future. Only 21% of patients would have preferred the addition of a video feature to their telephone consultation. 63% of clinicians felt that telephone consultations were a suitable alternative and 89% reported their consultations ran to time. With regards to improvements, 89% of clinicians felt that a language interpretation service should be readily available and that headsets may facilitate ease of consultation.ConclusionsTelephone consultations are effective and appropriate during the restricted services resulting from the COVID‐19 pandemic. Patients have received telephone clinics well. The majority of clinicians felt that telephone clinics were a suitable alternative, however several improvements to the service have been suggested.