Attitudes of care staff towards video consultations

Abstract

In our specialist mental health service for people with an intellectual disability (also known in UK health services as learning disability) in Kent we have just completed a quality improvement project on attitudes towards video consultations among the staff in care settings The month of April 2020 saw a 48% fall in attendances to accident and emergency departments when compared with the previous year, and the fall was 72% for minor injury units and urgent care centres 2 There may be some long-lasting public fear surrounding healthcare settings that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable patients and telepsychiatry may prove critical in reaching those individuals as well as the staff who care for them A visual step-by-step guide for clinicians to use video consultations in mental health services: NHS examples of real-time practice in times of normal and pandemic healthcare delivery