A mixed-methods evaluation of remote home monitoring models during the COVID-19 pandemic in England

Plain English Summary

Background and study aims
During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, some patients were not admitted to hospital until they were displaying advanced symptoms of COVID-19. These patients may then have received invasive treatments and/or been admitted to intensive care. Monitoring patients at home may help to reduce these delays and identify patients earlier.
In the UK, a healthcare service called COVID Oximetry @home has been nationally rolled out by NHS England. In COVID Oximetry @home, patients receive COVID care at home. As part of this service, patients are given an oximeter and asked to record their oxygen levels regularly. Patients are monitored and sent for further care if problems arise.
Previous research has looked at home monitoring for other conditions, but no research has looked at whether COVID care at home is effective, how patients experience and engage with COVID care at home and how staff find delivering COVID care at home. This study aims to evaluate patients’ experiences of receiving the COVID care at home service.

Who can participate?
Persons aged 18 years or older who have been offered or care for someone who was offered the COVID Oximetry @home service.

What does the study involve?
To find out about patients’ experiences of receiving and engaging with the COVID care at home service, the researchers will carry out a national survey and conduct some interviews in 14 selected NHS sites. They will conduct a national survey with patients and carers in up to 25 NHS sites across the country. The surveys will explore patient experiences of receiving COVID care at home. They will carry out some case study interviews win 14 selected NHS sites and speak with patients who have received COVID care at home, or who have withdrawn from receiving care or declined care. These interviews will help to find out more about how people experienced receiving COVID care at home and the things that help or get in the way.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The researchers will be conducting surveys and interviews with patients and family members about their experience of receiving the COVID Oximetry @home service. It is therefore possible that discussing their experience of receiving care whilst experiencing COVID-19 could cause distress. To address these concerns, the researchers will ensure that questions within the survey and interview topic guide are presented sensitively. To do this, they have already sought feedback from their research team's patient and public involvement (PPI) members. They will also state in the information that participation is voluntary and that participants are free to withdraw. Where applicable the researchers will seek to signpost patients to relevant support groups. Secondly, patients may be hesitant to raise criticism of the service that they have received. To address this, the researchers have highlighted on the information sheet that the research team are independent of those delivering care and that there are no right or wrong answers. They will also emphasise that responses will be fully anonymised. They will highlight to participants that they would like to learn about the things that do not work well, in order to improve these for future participants.
The researchers will involve patients, carers and public involvement throughout the project. For example, they have already spoken with some patient representatives to find out their views on the project and the types of questions that they will ask during the surveys and interviews. The researchers will also be piloting the survey and interview questions with patients who have received COVID care at home. Later on in the project, they will also ask for patient and healthcare professionals’ views on their findings.

Where is the study run from?
This is a collaborative project between BRACE and RSET (two NIHR HS&DR programme rapid evaluation teams) with input from colleagues at Public Health England (PHE), NHS England (NHSE), NHS Digital and NHSX, and with other research teams working in this area.

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
November 2020 to June 2021

Who is funding the study?
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (UK)

Who is the main contact?
Pei Li Ng
pei.ng@ucl.ac.uk

Contact information

Prof Naomi Fulop
Scientific

UCL Department of Applied Health Research
1-19 Torrington Place
London
WC1E 7HB
United Kingdom

ORCID ID	0000-0001-5306-6140
Phone	+44 (0)203 1083267
Email	n.fulop@ucl.ac.uk

Ms Pei Li Ng
Public

UCL Department of Applied Health Research
1-19 Torrington Place
London
WC1E 7HB
United Kingdom

Phone	+44 (0)2031083236
Email	pei.ng@ucl.ac.uk

Study information

Eligibility

Locations

Countries of recruitment

• England
• United Kingdom

Study participating centres

Sponsor information

University College London
University/education

1st floor, Maple House (Suite B)
149 Tottenham Court Road
London
W1T 7DN
England
United Kingdom

Phone	+44 (0)2034475696
Email	pushpsen.joshi1@nhs.net
Website	http://www.ucl.ac.uk/
"ROR"	https://ror.org/02jx3x895

Funders

Funder type

Government

Results and Publications

Study outputs

Additional files

ISRCTN14962466_PROTOCOL_V1.2_10Feb21.pdf

Uploaded 19/02/2021

Editorial Notes

10/10/2023: Publication reference added.
13/02/2023: Publication reference added.
05/12/2022: Publication references added.
19/02/2021: Uploaded protocol Version 1.2, 10 February 2021.
10/02/2021: Trial’s existence confirmed by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).