Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has researched the use of telephone and video consultations with 4,418 patients and staff.
The research project aimed to help improve video consultations and analyse patient and staff responses to the new ways of working during the pandemic.
At first the trust introduced phone calls in place of face to face appointments, alongside WhatsApp video calls and Skype. After exploring options, Sheffield Children’s now uses Attend Anywhere.
The trust said that following the results, virtual appointments are here to stay. The research with families and staff aimed to understand how the appointments have felt and how they could be used in the future. The feedback showed 80% of patients and 90% of staff said virtual appointments were beneficial.
The evaluation of the responses highlighted strong benefits including; the ‘voice’ of children can be improved through visual engagement and there is increased engagement with pre-teens/teens and some children, including those with Autism feel more comfortable. The results also showed that patients do not want to travel long distances and for those who would attend regularly digital channels are preferred.
Those who travelled the furthest felt virtual appointments would be most beneficial, 60% of those travelling over 1.5hrs thought virtual appointments would be beneficial or extremely beneficial.
Following the feedback Sheffield Children’s is now working to use a combined approach of both face to face and virtual approaches for future appointments for patients.
Ruth Brown, Deputy Chief Executive, said: “We really welcome the feedback patients and staff have provided. It’s helping us to shape our future ways of working, as well as understand how well our care has been received during the pandemic. Across the Trust we’re delighted to hear it’s been well received.”
“We’re now working to refine the balance between face-to-face and virtual appointments with the aim that this research will help other Trusts, patients and families elsewhere too.”
