Telemedicine sleep clinic review - Patient acceptability survey

Aim: To seek services user9s views of their experience and acceptability of telmedicine clinical review and to quantify any efficiency savings in terms of reduction in mileage travelled, fuel consumption and reduction in carbon footprint impact. Methods: 110 service users diagnosed with OSAHS who were utilising CPAP therapy or MRS therapy were asked to complete a postal survey regarding their experience and views of remote teleconsultation in 2014. Results: 60 people returned completed surveys representing a 55% response rate. Figure 1. demonstates responses regarding teleconsultation. In terms of annual mileage travelled there was a reduction by 1,500 miles in 2013-2014 resulting in a fuel economy saving of £1,005 per annum. This equates to a saving of 0.32 tonnes in terms of carbon foot print emissions. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that teleconsultation is very acceptable to the vast majority of service users who received this intervention and there are significant financial and environmental economies for sleep medicine healthcare providers. We now offer this method of clinical review as part of our mainstream service and are looking ahead at home teleconsultation possibilities using current technology. Delivered at scale this method of clinical review can offer significant financal savings for the NHS and we would encourage other Sleep medicince providers to explore the use of telemedicine consultation in their service.