Dr Google will see you now... visit websites not us, GPs say

PATIENTS should use Google for health advice instead of visiting clinics, according to GPs.

Family doctors are now urging people to turn to the internet rather than make an appointment at a local surgery in a bid to lighten medics’ crippling workloads.

The call comes ahead of a major meeting of Scotland’s GPs and amid soaring pressure on the NHS.

Medical experts have long advised against looking up symptoms on the internet over fears about the accuracy of the information from ‘Dr Google’.

But a number of NHS-run sites have now sprung up, such as NHS Inform, which has self-help guides on common ailments including back pain and flu.

GPs say such pages are vital to help reduce their workloads – and are appealing to the Scottish Government to roll out campaigns encouraging the public to go online, and turn to pharmacies and opticians when possible.

But campaign group Doctors For the NHS said: ‘The big concern with using “Dr Google” is safety. So would this be clinically effective and safe? Who would be providing the online health advice?

‘Patients going online could also end up on websites that charge for medical advice or appointments.’

The call comes from GPs of the British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland ahead of their annual meeting in Glasgow next week.

Currently, a quarter of GP surgeries have a vacancy. The Scottish Government and BMA signed a new contract in April guaranteeing GP partners an income of £80,430 a year, along with less paperwork.

But the BMA’s agenda committee will ask members to back a motion that raises concerns ‘that workload pressures will persist’ and ‘asks the Scottish Government to take measures to inform the public it is not always possible, or necessary, to see a GP, and raise awareness of alternatives’.

A motion from the Forth Valley Local Medical Committee

‘Would this be effective and safe?’

suggests ‘a national media campaign’ highlighting alternatives such as ‘websites, pharmacists, dentists and opticians’.

A Dumfries and Galloway Local Medical Committee motion says the NHS is ‘broken beyond all hope of repair’. It calls for politi- cians to ‘show true courage’ and ‘allow us as a nation to begin the crucial steps of starting again so a health service can be created which is fit for the 21st century’.

Another motion from the group states: ‘The survival of general practice is as much at threat from over-demanding patients as it is from underperforming doctors.

‘The Scottish Government must begin dialogue about what can be done to reduce demand.’

Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘Given their increasing workload and ongoing workforce pressures, it’s no wonder GPs are looking at ways to manage patient pressures.’

Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘The SNP need to get a long overdue grip on workforce planning and ensure the right staff are in place to lift the burden on GPs.’

Ben Ramanauskas of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘With GP surgeries facing huge demand for appointments, encouraging people to receive treatment and advice in other ways is welcome.

‘New approaches to make healthcare more open for patients is exactly the kind of common sense reform the NHS needs.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘NHS 24 run a healthwise campaign every winter to advise patients of who they should turn to for appropriate care and www.NHSinform.scot has a range of easy to use, self-help guides.’