NOW WE CAN DITCH USELESS VIDEO CALLS WITH PATIENTS

IT’S official: video call GP appointments are relatively useless. That was confirmed last week in a report by researchers at the University of Oxford, which included feedback from patients, doctors and technology experts.

The study concluded that seeing patients via a video call risked missing serious diagnoses and that patients were rarely satisfied. I’ve been saying for years that video consultations were mostly a waste of time – especially when the former Health Secretary Matt Hancock seemed obsessed with pushing them on patients in 2020.

Patients are often surprised when I reject their request for a video call and say that I’d rather speak to them on the phone instead. Phone conversations are far more natural – rubbish wi-fi signals make it hard to hear what patients say in video calls.

Thankfully, video calls aren’t widely used in NHS GP practices any more, the report stated, and I hope it stays that way.