Outcomes of remote versus face-to-face ear, nose and throat outpatient consultation on patient pathways.

Remote consultation has potential benefits in increasing patient pathway efficiency and has been found to reduce costs and carbon emissions. Previous studies of remote consultation in ear, nose and throat (ENT) practice have reported mixed results and used relatively small sample sizes. The aim of this article is to study the impact of remote telephone consultation on ENT clinic outcomes and pathway efficiency, compared with in-person review, within new and follow-up patient cohorts and subspeciality, where previous studies demonstrate mixed and inconclusive results. This was a comparison of remote clinic appointment outcomes over a 2-month period from a single ENT referral centre (426) with an equivalent data set of face-to-face clinic appointments over a similar time frame (1,533). Statistical analysis included chi-squared test for clinic outcomes and two-sample For new referrals, remote consultation was associated with statistically significantly greater rates of follow-up ( Remote consultation in ENT could become the norm for follow-up patients, but should be used with caution in the initial consultation of new patients.