Patient satisfaction with telephone consultations at a community mental health service: a descriptive survey

Research has demonstrated that there are several models of teleconsultation, and that these can be effective and acceptable to patients. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a sudden shift to phone consultations in community mental health services. This study assessed the impact of this change from the patient perspective and thus determined how this mode of delivery can be optimised going forwards. Data were collected using a semi-structured, self-reporting patient satisfaction questionnaire with 17 items, which was sent to 200 patients who had received both an in-person and telephone consultation from a community mental health team in Wales. The themes covered in the questionnaire were communication, interpersonal manner, technical quality, convenience and general satisfaction. A total of 114 respondents rated their agreement with the items on a 5-point Likert scale, and free-text boxes were provided for suggestions and comments. Quantitative data were summarised using descriptive statistics and free-text comments were analysed thematically. The majority of the patients gave positive responses, with 70–94% either agreeing or strongly agreeing with the positive statements regarding the communication, interpersonal manner, technical quality and length of consultation that they experienced. Overall, 74% agreed or strongly agreed that they were generally satisfied. However, only 52% believed that telephone consultations were more convenient than in-person hospital appointments, and nearly one-quarter (24%) did not want to continue with telephone consultations in the future. Suggested improvements included the use of video consultations, provision of extra time for consultations and a general increase in the services available. Telephone consultations were generally perceived as acceptable, useful and effective, helping patients to access ongoing mental health care. This suggests that telephone consultations could be an effective method of care delivery in the future. However, there is a need for further research and development in the remote delivery of mental health services.