Virtual GP appointments could be here to stay

Virtual health consultations run by GPs could be a long-term legacy of the coronavirus crisis, a Kent health boss says.

Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group accountable officer Wilf Williams has said there has been a “major uptick” in patients across the county being seen by their local doctors on the phone or via video calls.

Mr Williams said the technological revolution had been largely welcomed by patients, but members of Kent County Council’s (KCC) health and overview scrutiny committee (HOSC) disagreed during a public meeting last Wednesday. Maidstone county councillor Dan Daley (Con), who said he has been unable to see his doctor in person since March, quizzed the senior health manager on the likelihood of allowing patients back into GP surgeries in the near future. Speaking during the virtual meeting, he said: “Physical contact between a doctor and their patient is an essential part of the service.

“When surgeries or individual medical centres are going to reopen properly is something that a lot of people will want to know.” However, Mr Williams said that thousands of Kent health staff are less keen on seeing their patients in person unless it is deemed necessary.

The health officer, who has been in his post since February not long before Kent’s eight CCGs merged into one, said: “I don’t think we can give a date when everybody can go back and see their doctor as normal. “I would hazard to say, although I understand the issues of access to technology for some people, that we do not want to go back to that.”