Utilisation Patterns and Clinical Outcomes of Teleconsultation Versus Face‐to‐Face Follow‐Up of Breast Cancer Patients in the Post‐COVID‐19 Era
Hilda Wong, Timothy Robinson, Thomas Strawson-Smith, Amjed Alhilfi, Louise Panes, Thomas WellsBackground
There is a lack of updated data on the utilisation of teleconsultation after the end of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Objective clinical outcome measures to reflect its safety and effectiveness are underresearched.
Methods
We retrospectively reviewed consecutive breast cancer outpatient clinic appointments which took place between 5 May 2023, and 30 June 2025, in the oncology department of a tertiary referral hospital. Patient characteristics, postconsultation acute services contact, emergency hospital admission rate and survival were compared between telephone and face‐to‐face consultation groups.
Results
A total of 3098 consultations involving 433 patients were included in our analysis. The majority was face‐to‐face (66.1%). Teleconsultations were associated with a lower median age ( p < 0.0001), higher proportion of patients with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0 ( p = 0.0010), Stage III or IV disease ( p = 0.0112), longer history of follow‐up ( p < 0.0001) and active treatment ( p < 0.0001). No significant difference was found in postconsultation acute services contact or emergency hospital admission rate after adjusting for confounding factors ( p = 0.6165). Overall survival was similar in patients stratified by the proportion of teleconsultations out of all attended appointments (logrank p = 0.07), as was recurrence‐free survival (logrank p = 0.052) in early breast cancer.
Conclusion
We reported ongoing high utilisation of teleconsultation in a real‐world breast oncology clinic setting and preliminary observation of its successful care delivery without compromise on safety and quality.