GP consultations via Skype risk fuelling the rise of deadly superbugs

♦ Video GP services may not be safe and risk fuelling antibiotic resistance, researchers have found.

The study by Imperial College London examined the work done by private online GP services, which have proliferated in recent years, offering near-instant appointments often via links such as Skype.

The research found such companies were heavily promoting access to antibiotics, sometimes “in minutes”. Internet searches for antibiotics also led consumers straight to the GP sites, none of which carried warnings about over-use of the drugs, the study found.

Earlier this week, health officials warned that at least one in five prescriptions were unnecessary, fuelling the rise of drug-resistant superbugs, which kill 5,000 people every year in the UK.

Researchers suggested the plethora of GP sites advertising antibiotics could mean patients were more likely to expect to be given the drugs by doctors who knew prescribing them might keep paying customers happy. They added risks were heightened by lack of access to NHS notes.

The study was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.