Underserved communities and remote kidney care

Study background

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients with a kidney condition had their appointments with their doctor or nurse carried out by telephone or by video call (remote care). Although this was seen to be a good idea for some people, others found it more difficult.

For example, people with learning disabilities, those with mental health conditions and those who are not fluent in English may have come across problems when not seeing their doctor or nurse face-to-face. These groups are sometimes called underserved communities.

Read more about the background of the study here (PDF File 1,505 KB).

What are underserved communities?

Underserved communities have certain similarities such as high use of healthcare services and important differences in how they respond to or engage with healthcare services.

Our project is interested in working with underserved communities to understand what problems these groups face when having telephone or video calls.

What are the aims of the project?

This project will:

1. Understand the experiences of people with a kidney condition who are from underserved groups who have had telephone or video call appointments.
2. Explore the perceptions and experiences of staff working in kidney care who have carried out appointments by telephone or video call.

What is the vision?

Our results will be used to:

1. Find what works best in delivering appointments by phone or video call.
2. Make recommendations for staff working in kidney care.
3. Develop a training resource (Toolkit) for both staff and patients to improve the experiences of remote care.

Who is funding the project?

The project is being funded by Kidney Care UK.