Patient and health professional attitudes towards the use of telemedicine for abortion care in Britain: Findings from the SACHA study

Abstract

Introduction: Use of telemedicine in abortion care is safe and effective. Patient satisfaction with telemedically supported abortion is high, but as use expands in Britain, little is known about patients' or health professionals' views on how it is best used. We sought the views of both groups on telemedicine's role in abortion provision and how its use might be optimised.

Methods: We administered a structured survey with an additional free-text response option to a range of health professionals from services identified via clustered random sampling. We conducted semi-structured interviews with patients with recent experience of abortion, purposively sampled from abortion services. Participants were recruited from England, Scotland and Wales. We analysed qualitative data using thematic analysis alongside framework analysis.

Results: Support for telemedicine was high among participants, which included 771 health professionals from a range of services and 48 patients. Among health professionals, 23% opposed the use of telemedicine in abortion provision. Opposition was highest among those uninvolved, or who did not feel skilled, in remote provision. Reported benefits included patient convenience and comfort. Patient concerns centred on adequate provision of emotional support. Participants made suggestions for augmenting and extending the use of telemedicine to meet some patients' needs, including combining telemedical consultation with in-person care and providing information and follow-up via digital methods.

Conclusions: Acceptability of telemedically supported abortion, which offers logistical and emotional benefits to patients, is high in Britain. Novel ways of providing telemedical support should be explored to enhance remote abortion provision. In-person care should remain an option for patients.

Keywords: Telemedicine; abortion; digital health.