SHIBA
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Study on Health Inequality and Barriers to Attendance in Digital Clinics
IRAS ID
341314
Contact name
Ling Zhi Heng
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Moorfields Eye hospital nhs foundation trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The National Health Service (NHS) is facing unprecedented backlog in patient attendances in clinics as we return from the pandemic. This backlog is further impacted by the shortage of staff. To cope with backlogs, there is an exponential speed of initiating digital surveillance clinics to provide ophthalmic care and potential incorporation of artificial intelligence algorithms into medical pathways.
The medical retina digital surveillance clinic in Moorfields Eye Hospital (MEH) sees approximately 40,000 patients a year from across different Moorfields sites in London. The patients seen come from diverse ethnicity, social and economic backgrounds. The safety and efficacy of the digital pathways have been proven and published. However, early and small-sampled audit results from these digital services indicate that about 4 times more patients ‘did not attend’ (DNA) as compared to national standards. Early surveys from the service have shown general positive feedback regarding digitalisation of medical care, but there has been concerns from patients from open source feedback about the longevity or appropriateness of such services.
The purpose of the study is to accurately assess the DNA rates across all Moorfields digital clinics serving medical retina patients. We aim to study the patient characteristics of people who do not attend these clinics and identify barriers to their attendance and recommend measures to rectify such barriers.
REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/LO/0473
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jun 2024
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion