The Bionics Bus for Neurology and Neuropsychiatry: Concept Development and Validation

Abstract

Healthcare delivery in the United Kingdom is increasingly becoming a challenging issue where demand is regularly outstripping availability. This is particularly a challenge in neurology and neuropsychiatry, where delays in diagnosis and treatment are leading to worse health and social outcomes. The Darzi report, which focused on three key tenants, has been hailed as the future blueprint for National Health Service (NHS) sustainability and high-quality care delivery. These three tenants are moving from analogue to digital approaches, focusing on prevention and wellbeing, and supporting diagnosis and treatment in communities instead of hospitals. Technological interventions are relevant at all stages of these care pathways. There is an opportunity to identify an easy to use community-based mobile resource to help screen, triage and refer suspect neurology and neuropsychiatric presentations to the right support. The potential benefits to patients, clinicians, organisations and communities could be significant. To enable this vision, the concept of Bionic Bus (https://bionicsbus.org/) was developed. This study looked to understand the acceptability, utility and scope of the Bionics Bus concept among the public using mixed-methods research techniques. Results suggest high acceptability, utility and wide scope. This study gives a template for similar evidence-based innovation to be applied for other health conditions.