Doctor’s Advice Just A Click Away
Face-to-face online consultations with NHS registered GPs have been available via apps such as Babylon, Push Doctor and Now GP for a while.
These are chargeable and allow those who can afford it, and unable to obtain a convenient appointment at their own surgery, to have a quick consultation and rapid diagnosis from a GP and even next day medicine deliveries.
They are generally regarded by their users as a good complement to their regular GP for non-threatening conditions that appear pressing at the time and worth paying a modest sum to get guidance about,
Now, an NHS backed trial in London has gone a step further and set the hares running.
The trial uses a version of the Babylon app to provide free online consultations with a GP practice in Fulham.
Called “GP at Hand”, this app can be used by anyone living or working “within 30 minutes” of the surgery, however that might be measured.
It has, though, caused controversy.
Firstly, patients registering with the App become patients of the doctors running it and are immediately transferred from their existing surgeries.
This came as a complete shock to a number of early adopters and gave rise to some angry exchanges.
Secondly, other GPs felt threatened, complained about the way it was operating and questioned the underlying financial models.
As a result, planned expansions into Birmingham and Manchester have been put on ice.
On the face of it, dealing with some routine conditions and repeat consultations by online video app would be a better use of time for both patients and doctors.
I say make a success of the trial and get it rolled out to all surgeries.
