TY - JOUR

T1 - Media depictions of primary care teleconsultation safety: a thematic analysis of UK newspapers

AU - Song, Kaiyang

AU - Hey, Molly

AU - Payne, Rebecca

N1 - © The Authors.

PY - 2024/10

Y1 - 2024/10

N2 - Background The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the widespread roll-out of teleconsultations across primary care services in the UK. The media’s depiction of remote consultations, especially regarding their safety, is not well established. These insights are important: newspapers’ coverage of healthcare-related news can influence public perception, national policy, and clinicians’ job satisfaction.Aim To explore how the national newspapers in the UK depicted both the direct and indirect consequences of the remote-first approach on patient safety.Design and setting We performed thematic analysis of newspaper articles that discussed patient safety in primary care teleconsultations, which were published between 21 January 2021 and 22 April 2022.Method We identified relevant articles using the LexisNexis Academic UK database. We categorised data from these articles into codes before developing these into emergent themes through an iterative process.Results Across the 57 articles identified, the main safety concern identified was missed and/or delayed diagnoses over tele-appointment(s), while isolated cases of inappropriate prescribing were also reported. The media reported that the transition to a remote-first approach reduced the accessibility to primary care appointments for some groups (especially patients with lower digital literacy or access) and heightened the burden on other healthcare services; in particular, there were reports of patient care being compromised across NHS emergency departments.Conclusion The print media predominantly reported negative impacts of remote consultations on patient safety, particularly involving missed and/ or delayed diagnoses. Our work highlights the importance of further exploration into the safety of remote consultations, and the impact of erroneous media reporting on policies and policymakers.

AB - Background The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the widespread roll-out of teleconsultations across primary care services in the UK. The media’s depiction of remote consultations, especially regarding their safety, is not well established. These insights are important: newspapers’ coverage of healthcare-related news can influence public perception, national policy, and clinicians’ job satisfaction.Aim To explore how the national newspapers in the UK depicted both the direct and indirect consequences of the remote-first approach on patient safety.Design and setting We performed thematic analysis of newspaper articles that discussed patient safety in primary care teleconsultations, which were published between 21 January 2021 and 22 April 2022.Method We identified relevant articles using the LexisNexis Academic UK database. We categorised data from these articles into codes before developing these into emergent themes through an iterative process.Results Across the 57 articles identified, the main safety concern identified was missed and/or delayed diagnoses over tele-appointment(s), while isolated cases of inappropriate prescribing were also reported. The media reported that the transition to a remote-first approach reduced the accessibility to primary care appointments for some groups (especially patients with lower digital literacy or access) and heightened the burden on other healthcare services; in particular, there were reports of patient care being compromised across NHS emergency departments.Conclusion The print media predominantly reported negative impacts of remote consultations on patient safety, particularly involving missed and/ or delayed diagnoses. Our work highlights the importance of further exploration into the safety of remote consultations, and the impact of erroneous media reporting on policies and policymakers.

KW - COVID-19/epidemiology

KW - Humans

KW - Newspapers as Topic

KW - Patient Safety

KW - Primary Health Care

KW - Remote Consultation

KW - SARS-CoV-2

KW - United Kingdom

U2 - 10.3399/bjgp.2023.0543

DO - 10.3399/bjgp.2023.0543

M3 - Article

C2 - 38621808

VL - 74

SP - e695–e701

JO - British Journal of General Practice

JF - British Journal of General Practice

SN - 1478-5242

IS - 747

ER -