Virtual voice clinics in the COVID-19 era: have they been helpful?

Purpose In response to the coronavirus pandemic, a tertiary combined Laryngology-Speech Therapy voice clinic was converted to a wholly virtual clinic, with consultations carried out via telephone or video. The aim of our mixed method study was to assess (a) how effective are virtual clinics vs face-to-face clinics in progressing patients’ care and (b) what is patient satisfaction with virtual consultation methods. Methods Analysis of clinic data from patient databases for both virtual and face-to-face clinics was carried out. A patient satisfaction survey was carried out by 75 of the patients who had attended virtual clinics. Results There was statistically a significant difference ( p value