Doctors warn virtual consultations may be ‘the future’ for GPs
VIRTUaL family doctor appointments are here to stay and some practices may be unable to resume in-person consultations quickly, GPs have warned.
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) scotland said a ‘mixed model of remote and face-to-face consultations’ is ‘the future of general practice’.
It comes as a bid by the Conservatives to force ministers to name a date for the return of normal in-person GP appointments failed in the scottish parliament yesterday.
GPs are currently seeing between a third and 40 per cent of their patients in person.
dr david shackles, joint chairman of RCGP scotland, said: ‘We believe a mixed model of remote and face-to-face consultations, based on shared decision-making between the patient and their GP in line with individual healthcare circumstances, to be the future of general practice.
‘For many of our patients, remote consultations work well and they often find them a more convenient way of contacting their GP.
There is simply no capacity in the system for general practice to take on further workload, especially as we are still in the midst of the pandemic and gearing up for what is set to be an exceptionally challenging winter.
‘GPs and their teams are now considering how they can implement the latest guidance as quickly and safely as possible whilst protecting our most vulnerable patients... this is likely to differ between practices.’
since the beginning of the pandemic, patients have been triaged by phone before a decision on whether a virtual or phone consultation can take place with a GP or if an in-person appointment should happen.
scottish Government guidance issued on september 7 said there is ‘no longer a need to triage every patient’. But it also stated that patients should still be screened for Covid before they are seen in person.
during a vote yesterday, a scottish Tory bid to get parliament to order ministers to ‘set a target date for a return to normal activity in practices’ failed. an amendment to the motion by Health secretary Humza yousaf, which removed the requirement for a timeline, was passed by 89 votes to 30. scottish Tory health spokesman annie Wells said: ‘If we do not... get hospital clinical surgery waiting times under control then GPs will continue to be overwhelmed.
‘People need help today, they need help now. This has all the components to generate a brutal domino effect across the nHs. Many medical conditions will continue to go undiagnosed and untreated, leading to tragic yet entirely avoidable consequences.’
scottish Liberal democrat leader alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘It is absurd that we cannot at least set a date for pre-pandemic activities in practices to take place.
‘If you can go to a nightclub, or to an optician, or a massage therapist, logic would suggest it is safe for you to have an inperson consultation with your GP.’
Public health minister Maree Todd said: ‘I accept there is a need to rapidly increase the availability of face-to-face appointments.’
she said steps set out in the nHs remobilisation plan, along with support from bodies such as BMa scotland, will allow this to happen ‘as quickly as possible, but more importantly, as safely as possible’.