Back in November last year we wrote about the introduction of eConsult, an online triage system that was being rolled out across GP Surgeries and touched upon some of the pitfalls that could arise. Fast forward to July of this year and the Guardian is reporting on an investigation that is profoundly more serious as it has found that some online consultations have led to harms and death.
Denis Campbell, Health Policy Editor writes:
Patients have died after describing their symptoms to a GP in an online form rather than at a face-to-face consultation, the NHS’s safety investigations body has revealed.
Online consultations with GP surgeries involve risks to patients’ safety and have led to sometimes serious harm and even death, an investigation by the Health Services Safety Investigations Branch (HSSIB) found.
The HSSIB’s 58-page report says that its investigation had “found a small number of reports to prevent deaths [by coroners] which referenced remote care, include online tools” but gave no details.
HSSIB highlighted a number of safety concerns posed by online forms, in which a patient outlines their symptoms which are later assessed by their GP surgery. Online consultation tools have led to people being misdiagnosed or their illness being missed altogether, care they need being delayed and patients being put off seeking a GP’s help at all, it said.
Another patient told HSSIB of their frustration that “it is very difficult to get a medical appointment now and my surgery is pushing more and more services online. It has got to the point where access is so difficult. I don’t seek advice and just hope minor conditions just go away.”
All rather depressing but sadly predictable.
You can read the Guardian piece in full here:
If you wish to read the HSSIB report you can do so here:
Finally, here is our November article “Are GP's becoming an endangered species?”