Online consultations add to GPs’ workload ‘as patients are told to visit surgeries anyway’
The NHS is to spend £45million encouraging practices to offer 'digital appointments' in a bid to slash four-week waits
ONLINE consultations are adding to GPs’ workloads because many patients are told to visit surgeries anyway, a study warns.
The NHS is to spend £45million encouraging practices to offer “digital appointments” in a bid to slash four-week waits.
But research found 38 per cent of e-consultations resulted in a face-to-face appointment while another 32 per cent were phoned by a medic.
Some 36 practices were analysed by the Society for Academic Primary Care between April 2015 and June 2016.
Dr Peter Swinyard, of the Family Doctor Association, said: “It’s hard to do consultations on a computer.
“This is the sort of trendy thing that a Government bereft of ideas would come up with.”
NHS England said practices “have found them to offer both patients and GPs a quicker, more convenient option than face-to-face appointments”.
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