286 Are Telephone Reviews the Future in Outpatient Clinic Consultations?

Abstract

AimThe COVID-19 pandemic posed many challenges to healthcare system in the UK. Attempts were made to ensure the provision of treatment, continuity of care and follow-up of the patients. As a result, implementation of telephone consultations was started for most of the outpatient appointments. The aim of this study was to evaluate patient satisfaction and views on this alteration in service.MethodThe first 150 patients who had breast clinic appointments delivered by telephone consultation at Ipswich hospital during the pandemic in early 2020 were retrospectively identified and sent a postal survey. The satisfaction levels were assessed through a degree of agreement with statements (four items), yes/no answers (two questions), and space for comments.Results142 survey responses were included (94.7% response rate). The majority of patients (n = 130) were satisfied with the care they received. Even though almost half of the patients stated that they would like to be seen face-to-face in the hospital, only 10% (n = 4) of them stated that they would not like a second phone consultation. Surprisingly,78% (n = 117) of patients stated they would be happy for further breast clinic appointments to be carried out in the same way.ConclusionsOur study has shown that telephone consultations are a safe and rapid method of adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic, achieving high satisfactory rate amongst patients. Our findings suggest that this tool has benefits in post pandemic healthcare delivery. Can telephone reviews be the future in outpatient clinic consultations?