Because of COVID-19 most NHS settings have had to dramatically change how they provide consultation appointments for their patients. Under NHS guidance, remote consultation has been rapidly introduced to replace face-to-face consultation. Most research around remote consultations has focused on ‘synchronous’ forms, where patients and clinicians talk online or by phone in real time. There is less research on ‘asynchronous’ consultations, where patients and clinicians are not available at the same time, instead communicate via emails or online messages. As part of its COVID-19 recovery plan, NHS Grampian is rolling out an asynchronous platform across outpatient care specialties.
The HSRU is leading a study, in partnership with NHS Grampian, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and lay partners from the HSRU PPI group, exploring the roll out of ‘asynchronous’ consultations at scale in NHS Grampian, to provide practical learning for future use across the NHS. The study involves NHS staff and patient interviews, public discussion groups, patient satisfaction surveys and analysis of routinely collected NHS data.
This project is funded by the Health Foundation’s new research programme, which seeks to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care service delivery.
Find out more here.