Getting the most out of remote care: Co-developing a Toolkit to improve the delivery of remote kidney care appointments for underserved groups.

Background: Telephone and video appointments are still common post-pandemic, with an estimated 25%-50% of kidney appointments in the United Kingdom still conducted remotely. This is important as remote consultations may exacerbate pre-existing inequalities in those from underserved groups. Those from underserved groups are often not represented in health research and include those with learning disability, mental health needs, hearing/sight problems, young/older people, those from ethnic minority groups.

Objectives: The aim was to develop a Toolkit to improve the quality of remote kidney care appointments for people from different underserved groups.

Design: A parallel mixed methods approach with semistructured interviews/focus groups and survey. We also conducted workshops to develop and validate the Toolkit.

Participants: Seventy-five renal staff members completed the survey and 21 patients participated in the interviews and focus groups. Patients (n = 11) and staff (n = 10) took part in the Toolkit development workshop, and patients (n = 13) took part in the Toolkit validation workshop.

Results: Four themes from interviews/focus groups suggested areas in which remote appointments could be improved. Themes were quality of appointment, patient empowerment, patient-practitioner relationship and unique needs for underserved groups. Staff reported difficulty building rapport, confidentiality issues, confidence about diagnosis/advice given, technical difficulties and shared decision making.

Conclusion: This study is the first to explore experiences of remote appointments among both staff and those from underserved groups living with kidney disease in the United Kingdom. While remote appointments can be beneficial, our findings indicate that remote consultations need optimisation to meet the needs of patients. The project findings informed the development of a Toolkit which will be widely promoted and accessible in the United Kingdom during 2024.