Seminar title: Digital Infrastructure and Uptake of Remote Appointments in Primary Care in England: An Empirical Analysis
Date / time: Thursday 21 March 2024 12.30pm to 1.30pm (Lunch provided)
Location: DSI Boardroom, Imperial’s Data Science Institute, William Penney Laboratory, South Kensington Campus
Speaker: Dr Divya Srivastava, Guest Teacher, Department of Health Policy at LSE
Abstract: This study looks at the patterns in the use of remote appointments before and after the arrival of Covid-19. The paper has two objectives. First, to investigate the spread of broadband and mobile usage across England before and after the arrival of Covid-19 England. Second, to empirically estimate the impact of the use of broadband and mobile usage on the likelihood of remote appointments in primary care in England and the impact on patient satisfaction. We use publicly available data using five waves of the GP Patient Survey in England (2018 to 2022). We link the five waves of data on GP practices to five waves of publicly available data on internet activity from the UK telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, using two measures: broadband strength and mobile usage
The Unsolved Problem: How can we think about addressing the ongoing reduction in the total number of GP practices, staff workload which is a contributing factor to demanding work environments to meet patient needs?