Facilitating access to online NHS primary care services (Di-Facto) V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Facilitating access to online NHS primary care services - current experience and future potential
IRAS ID
289425
Contact name
John Campbell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
6523, Research Registry; 1920/27, Co-Sponsor's number
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 1 months, 0 days
Research summary
Due to growing pressure on health services in recent years, there has been an increase in the use of internet-based services in general practice (GP) surgeries. This includes the ability to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions, as well as offering an alternative to face-to-face consultations via email and video. With a drive towards an increased provision of these services, it is important to understand any ‘barriers to use’ and how they might be overcome, particularly in order to ensure fairness in the provision of healthcare to different groups of people. One way to ensure this is with digital facilitation; supporting NHS patients and carers in their use of online services.
The study aims to understand:
• How the use of internet-based services are advertised and supported in GP surgeries.
• The benefits and challenges of different approaches used to support internet-based services for patients and staff.
• How different approaches work in practice.Using the results from a rapid evidence assessment and a practice survey conducted within this project, we will survey patients regarding their experiences of digital facilitation. We will also involve a number of GP surgeries already using various approaches to promoting the use of internet-based services. Researchers will observe how these approaches work, as well as undertaking interviews with patients and staff to help understand potential benefits and challenges associated with different methods being used to promote internet-based services.
Patients with experience of using internet-based services will be involved in developing the patient survey and planning the interviews and observation work. We will work with a patient advisory group at key points throughout the project.
This study will help to design future research into how effective certain approaches might be and whether their effects outweigh the associated costs.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/NE/0079
Date of REC Opinion
28 Apr 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion