Expanding Community Ultrasound Services in Rural Scotland
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Expanding Community Ultrasound Services in Rural Scotland: An investigation into patient choice.
IRAS ID
214504
Contact name
Mark Shannon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research Governance
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
researchregistry2178, Research Registry
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Currently within our NHS board, some patients have limited access to ultrasound services. There is currently an under utilised ultrasound machine in an outlying community hospital. It is hoped that by introducing a new community service, using this existing equipment, access will be improved. In line with the commitments of the new Scottish Integrated Joint Boards to provide efficient healthcare services for patients in a community setting, our department wishes to expand our community ultrasound services.
Prior to the proposed introduction of a new community ultrasound service and before making the assumption that patients will prefer to attend the new community site, the researcher feels it is important to gain patient's perspectives. Although much of the literature supports the idea of bringing services closer to home, there is also evidence to suggest there are other factors aside from locality that patients consider important when attending hospital appointments.
Approximately 200 patients who have recently attended for ultrasound appointments will be sent a postal questionnaire and asked to give their opinion on being offered a choice of where to attend for outpatient ultrasound and where they might choose to attend. By asking participants to identify the factors influencing this choice it is hoped an insight will be gained into which factors are important to patients when attending for ultrasound appointments. Information gained will hopefully assist in the planning of this new service and also allow improvements to be made to the current service.Patient choice is currently under researched in Scotland, especially in radiology services.
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SC/0146
Date of REC Opinion
21 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion