BACKGROUND: Remote services (in which the patient and staff member are not physically colocated) and digital services (in which a patient encounter is digitally mediated in some way) were introduced extensively when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. We undertook a longitudinal qualitative study of the introduction, embedding, evolution and abandonment of remote and digital innovations in United Kingdom general practice. This synoptic paper summarises study design, methods, key findings, outputs and impacts to date.
OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY AND KEY FINDINGS: From September 2021 to December 2023, we collected > 500 hours of ethnographic observation from a diverse sample of 12 general practices. Other data sources included over 200 interviews (with practice staff, patients and wider stakeholders), 4 multi-stakeholder workshops (184 participants), grey literature (e.g. Care Quality Commission reports) and safety incident reports. Patient involvement included digitally excluded individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g. homeless, complex needs). Data were de-identified, uploaded to NVivo (QSR International, Warrington, UK), coded thematically and analysed using various theoretical lenses. Despite an adverse context for general practice including austerity, workforce shortages, rising demand, rising workload and procurement challenges, all 12 participating practices adjusted to some extent to a 'new normal' of hybrid (combined traditional and remote/digital) provision following the external shock of the pandemic. By late 2023, practices showed wide variation in digital maturity from a 'trailblazer' practice which used digital technologies extensively and creatively to 'strategically traditional' practices offering mainly in-person services to deprived and vulnerable populations. We explained practices' varied fortunes using diffusion of innovations theory, highlighting the extensive work needed to embed and routinise technologies and processes. Digitally enabled patients often, but not always, found remote and digital services convenient and navigable, but vulnerable groups experienced exclusion. We explored these inequities through the lenses of digital candidacy, fractured reflexivity and intersectionality. For staff, remote and digital tasks and processes were often complex, labour-intensive, stressful and dependent on positive interpersonal relations - findings that resonated with theories of technostress, suffering and relational co-ordination. Our initial plan for workshop-based co-design of access pathways with patients was unsuccessful due to dynamic complexities; shifting to a more bespoke and agile design process generated helpful resources for patients and staff.
DISCUSSION: This study has confirmed previous findings from sociotechnical research showing that new technologies are never 'plug and play' and that appropriate solutions vary with context. Much variation in digital provision in United Kingdom general practice reflects different practice priorities and population needs. However, some practices' low digital maturity may indicate a need for additional resources, organisational support and strengthening of absorptive capacity. Negative impacts of digitalisation are common but not always inevitable; an 'inefficient' digital pathway may become more efficient over time as people adapt; and digitalisation does not affect all work processes equally (back-office tasks may be easier to routinise than clinical judgements). We have developed novel ways of involving patients from vulnerable and excluded groups, and have extended the evidence base on codesign for the busy and dynamic setting of general practice. Findings are being taken forward by national, locality-based and practice-level decision-makers; national regulators (e.g. in relation to safety); and educational providers for undergraduate, postgraduate and support staff (via a new set of competencies).
FUTURE WORK: Ongoing and planned work to maximise impact from this study includes using our competency framework to inform training standards, pursuing our insights on quality and safety with policy-makers, a cross-country publication for policy-makers with examples from colleagues in other countries, resources to convey key messages to different audiences, and continuing speaking engagements for academic, policy and lay audiences.
LIMITATIONS: The sampling of practices was limited to Great Britain. Patient interviews were relatively sparse. While the study generated rich qualitative data which was useful in its own right, a larger sample of practices with a quantitative component could support formal hypothesis-testing, and a health economics component could allow firmer statements about efficiency.
FUNDING: This synopsis presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme as award number NIHR132807.
