Models of care for chronic myeloid leukemia patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: Changes in patient attitudes to remote consultations and future implications

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges to the provision of patient care within hematology. We undertook a questionnaire-based study investigating the experiences and opinions of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the UK in relation to the different models of follow-up care received during the pandemic. One hundred fifty-four patients completed the online questionnaire. Only 19% of patients had experienced remote clinics prior to the pandemic compared with 91% afterward. After having experience of remote clinics, the proportion of patients who were positive about the remote clinic concept increased from 34% to 52% (P < .05). However, when asked to compare their experiences with face to face versus remote clinics, 48% preferred face-to-face clinics compared with 17% preferring remote clinics (35% expressed no preference). During the pandemic, frequency of blood tests was unchanged for 71% of patients, although they were performed in a number of different locations. The majority of patients (57%) had medication delivered to their home, with a small number (8%) having difficulty obtaining their medication. In terms of future models of care, 72% of patients were in favor of building remote appointments into the clinic model with 61% expressing a preference for a mixture of remote and face-to-face appointments. There was also interest in greater utilization of primary care for blood testing. Our findings should help optimize future models of care for CML patients.