Patient and professional experience of virtual antenatal clinics during
the COVID-19 pandemic in a UK tertiary obstetric hospital: a
questionnaire study
Abstract
Objective We evaluated patient and professional’s experience with
virtual antenatal clinic appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic, to
determine satisfaction and enquire into the safety and quality of care
received. Design, Setting, Population and Methods A total of 148 women
who attended a virtual antenatal clinic appointment at our UK tertiary
obstetric care centre over a two-week period provided feedback (62%
response rate). A further 37 health care professionals (HCP) delivering
care in the virtual antenatal clinics participated in another
questionnaire study (82% response rate). Main Outcome Measures and
Results We showed that women were highly satisfied with the virtual
clinics, with 86% rating their experience as good/very good, and this
was not associated with any statistically significant differences in
age, ethnicity, number of previous births or pregnancy loss(es)
(p>0.05). Even though, 56% preferred face-to-face
appointments, 44% either expressed no preference or preferred virtual,
and these preferences were not associated with significant differences
in patient demographics (p>0.05). For HCP, 67% rated their
experience of virtual clinics as good/very good; 78% described their
experience as the same or better than face-to-face clinics; 15%
preferred virtual clinics and 44% had no preference. Importantly, 67%
found it easy/very easy to adapt to virtual clinics. Over 90% of HCP
agreed virtual clinics should be implemented long-term. Conclusions Our
study demonstrates high satisfaction with telephone, antenatal clinics
during the pandemic, which supports the transition towards widespread
digitalisation of antenatal care, suited to twenty first century
patients and professionals. Funding None Keywords COVID-19, Virtual
clinic, antenatal, satisfaction