Satisfaction Survey of Patients and Carers for Telephone vs Face-to-Face Reviews - a Service Evaluation Project

AIMS: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated major changes in clinical care, including remote patient contact. Havering Older Adults Mental Health Team and Memory Service (HOAMHT&MS) patients often fell within the vulnerable category for poorer outcomes with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, so remote contact was preferable during the pandemic. Telephone assessments were offered to replace face-to-face reviews for some patients. Feedback from patients and carers was collected to compare these modes of patient contact. Remote assessment has positive impacts including; improving access to care in remote areas/when local services cannot meet demand and for disabled patients. Understanding the patient experience about remote assessments helps navigate decisions about future modes of consultation. METHODS: This evaluation was organised in HOAMHT&MS. A Rio* diary search was conducted for practitioners from 15/07/2020 to 15/10/2020. 75 questionnaires were sent from each clinic (OAMHT and Memory Service). We sent an equal number of questionnaires for telephone appointments and face-to-face reviews. Questionnaires were posted to patients with pre-paid envelopes to return responses. *Rio is our Electronic Patient Record System RESULTS: We had a total return of 23 questionnaires from the Memory Service and 24 from the OAMHT clinic. Most questions were a likert scale from Poor (1) to Excellent (5). The overall satisfaction score out of 5 (average of all the responses): OAMHT: Patient/telephone: 3.7 (n=13) Patient/face-to-face: 4.1 (n=7) Memory Service: Carer/telephone: 4.4 (n=8) Carer/face-to-face: 4.2 (n=9) Some of the open ended feedback: OAMHT: Carer/telephone: : Patient/face-to-face: “Help was always there for me.” “The clinic deserves a medal.” Memory Service: Carer/telephone: : Patient/face-to-face: “Very happy with the care and attention from the consultant, doctor and nurses at the memory service.” CONCLUSION: OAMHT Responses: Face-to-face feedback more positive. Patients experienced more distress - nature of illness (distress/crisis) compared to memory (usually gradual decline). Telephone appointments seem less satisfactory - less likely to meet the emotional need of patient/carer. Memory Service: Generally positive feedback from carers and patients in all areas - able to take a meaningful history over telephone;