Inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria and study summary
Better support for people through digital platforms enhancing self-management may have a significant role to play in improving care, but only if they actually work, and if people make use of them. My Medical Record is a secure, online platform used for patient care and self-management adapted for a number of neurological conditions. The present study aims to evaluate the factors that influence the uptake, use, and effectiveness of an online self-management platform for patients, carers and healthcare professionals. The Neuro Online study will enroll people with long-term neurological conditions and assess the effectiveness and acceptability of the platfom in these individuals, their carers and healthcare professionals. We will use questionnaires, together with MyMR system data on the frequency and duration of use of the platform itself. We will assess the use of the platform over time to see whether platform use is affected by changes in a person's neurological condition. Participants will have the opportunity to participate in a number of additional studies (sub-studies) which focus on particular issues such as Quality of Life, what individual characteristics are associated wtih use (or not) of the platform, and whether certain functions of the platform such as care planning are useful. A small number of patients will be asked if to participate in face-to-face interviews to assess their use of the platform. NHS staff will be surveyed to see if platform use changes how they deliver care. As online platforms are increasingly being developed for the NHS, we hope the study will help understand how to make them simple and appealing to use. The findings should help improve design and usefulness of these online tools.
