CHOICE - cochlear implant home care

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Telemedicine for adults with cochlear implants in the UK: empowering patients to manage their own hearing healthcare

• IRAS ID

  242575

• Contact name

  Helen Cullington

• Contact email

  hec@isvr.soton.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Southampton

• ISRCTN Number

  ISRCTN51668922

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 3 months, 30 days

• Research summary

  Cochlear implants provide hearing to around 600,000 people with deafness worldwide; they require lifelong follow-up. Care in the UK occurs at one of 18 centres, which may be far from the patient’s home. In a previous RCT funded by the Health Foundation, we successfully introduced person-centred care, providing an efficient service with more timely identification of issues. We designed, implemented and evaluated a remote care pathway: a personalised online support tool, home hearing check, self device adjustment, and upgrading of sound processors at home rather than in clinic.

  The remote care group had a significant increase in empowerment after using the tools; patients and clinicians were keen to continue. We would now like to scale up these improvements as a choice to the more than 9,000 UK adults using implants; we will provide an evaluation of this roll out to establish if it achieves its aims. This is a unique opportunity to scale up and offer a successful intervention to all people with a condition across the nation. We would like to generate and share evidence and learning, both within the field of deafness and beyond.

  Expected improvements:
  *more empowered and confident patients
  *more accessible and equitable care
  *stable hearing
  *more efficient, person-centred and scalable service
  *more satisfied and engaged patients and clinicians

• REC name

  South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  18/SC/0658

• Date of REC Opinion

  28 Nov 2018

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion