983 Patient’s Satisfaction of Virtual Clinics for Post-Cardiothoracic Surgery Follow Up During COVID

With advances in technology, virtual clinics are becoming increasingly attractive as a tool for outpatient follow up care. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of virtual outpatient clinics was crucial, for continued service provision despite social distancing guidelines. We aimed to ascertain patient satisfaction with virtual clinics in cardiothoracic surgery. Method Forty patients who attended virtual clinics, post cardiothoracic surgery, were invited to provide feedback by means of a questionnaire. Feedback was gathered by junior doctors. Results Thirty-four patients (20 had never had a telephone clinic appointment) agreed to provide feedback. Fifty percent of patients had not been seen since their operation. 91.2% (n = 31) of patients felt that the telephone consultation met their expectations/needs. Patient reported advantages of telephone consultations included: less concern regarding exposure to infection, no concern regarding parking, no travel time and less time off work. 79.4% (n = 27) would have preferred a face-to-face appointment. Patient reported disadvantages of telephone consultations were poor reception, felt they weren’t listened to and would have preferred to have been physically examined. Conclusions Patients were satisfied with telephone clinics for routine follow up post cardiothoracic surgery. However, the majority would have preferred face to face appointments.