Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Children and Young People (CYP) with diabetes are encouraged to attend four clinics each year.(1,2) During the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns regarding risk of virus transmission, reduced staff numbers and social distancing requirements, meant the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CAVUHB) paediatric diabetes service had to find alternative ways to communicate with patients. This included video consultations and drive-through HbA1c clinics as a substitute for some face-to-face clinics.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish children’s and young people’s and their carer’s opinions of the changes made to the CAVUHB paediatric diabetes service during COVID-19 and determine whether they would like video call and drive-through HbA1c clinics to continue after the pandemic.

Methods: This was a quantitative study. Questionnaires were produced and distributed to patients and their carers during the paediatric diabetes clinics held at CAVUHB between 30^th March 2021 and 22^nd April 2021. The questionnaires were also uploaded to the DigiBete platform and local online parent support groups. This study used non-probability sampling methods.

Results: There were 54 responses to the questionnaire. Face-to-face clinics were rated the most useful, scoring 4.66 out of 5 on average for usefulness and virtual video call clinics were rated 3.75 out of 5. Drive-through HbA1c clinics scored an average of 4.62 out of 5. 46% of participants wanted virtual clinics to continue after COVID-19, 37% only wanted face-to-face clinics and 17% had no preference.

Conclusion: Nearly half of the patients in this service wanted virtual clinics to continue after the pandemic, therefore this is something which the CAVUHB and other paediatric diabetes services may want to consider implementing as a permanent change. All service users could be given a choice in the future of having a virtual video call and drive-through HbA1c appointment as a replacement for some of their face-to-face clinics each year. More research could be done to establish how virtual clinics can be improved to improve patient experience.