The number of people living with a neurological condition is increasing. This means there will be increasing demand on existing services. One way forward is to use video appointments, telephone appointments and mobile phone apps in outpatient care.
However, we need to know how best to do this without decreasing the quality of care for patients.

The first step in this project is to find out what people think about video, telephone and health apps in outpatient care. To do this, we will analyse:

• A recent survey by the Neurological Alliance (this looks at views of people living with neurological conditions)
• A recent survey by the Association of British Neurologists (this looks at views of consultant neurologists)
• Recent research by our group looking at what people living with neurological conditions value in outpatient appointments

The second step is to carry out workshops to discuss these findings. We will invite people living with neurological conditions, carers, healthcare professionals and those involved in organising the outpatient services.

We will all work together to come up with recommendations about:

• How best to combine face-to-face appointments and appointments by video or by telephone.
• The best use of other technology, such as online patient portals (in Southampton this is called My Medical Record), mobile health apps or wearable health sensors

The third step is to hold interviews and focus groups to see how acceptable and feasible these recommendations are.

Taking Part
We are currently looking for :

• People having neurology outpatient appointments
• People who care for someone who is currently having neurology outpatient appointments
• Professionals involved in neurology outpatient care

to take part in workshops, interviews and focus groups. These will be held in person and online.

For more information on taking part in our research, please contact Patricia in the research team on 07876818404 or email NeuroLTC@soton.ac.uk