Bassetlaw hospital seeks feedback on new virtual healthcare appointments

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) trust has had to significantly change the way it works in order to continue to meet the needs of local people, while trying to keep travel to an absolute minimum during the restrictions presented by the national lockdown.

By mid-March, many of the organisation’s outpatient appointments transitioned into virtual sessions, conducted first via the phone and, by May, transitioning some selected and appropriate areas to video calls.

The trust has now undertaken almost 25,000 such appointments and is now looking forward to further evaluating the approach with patients and the public.

Similar to Facetime or Skype, video consultations and appointments allow both clinician and patient to see one another, and have a video conversation, with the former able to instruct the latter, if necessary, to undertake certain movements as well as observe their general condition.

From this, colleagues at the trust are able to offer medical advice and diagnosis, as well as also recommend if a follow-up visit to clinic is required.

Colleagues at DBTH want to find out more about patients’ experience when accessing health services virtually, what the hospitals can do better and what things they would like to see in the future.

Rebecca Joyce, chief operating officer at DBTH, said: “If you have undertaken a virtual consultation or appointment at the trust, please take a few minutes to let us know your views.

“There are only 15 questions and your feedback will help us to develop and shape future services provided by our hospitals.”

All responses are anonymous and the survey can be completed at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/digitalappointments.

Alternatively, if you would like to share more details about your experience, contact the organisation by emailing [email protected].