Virtual GPs: A game changer?

3 Sept

One of the biggest issues in recent years has been people no longer having swift access to their NHS GP. To address some of these challenges, 1Stop4aGP has provided virtual GP services for the past 18 months to a number of employers on behalf of their employees and their families.

Given the burden on the NHS, research conducted by the Royal College of Surgeons last September described patient’s battles to see their GPs as “a national crisis”. The research predicted that patients will now have to wait a week or even longer to see their GP with over 60 million occasions being estimated for the next year.

Pressures on A&E services have also soared: recent analysis revealed that over 1 million patients a year are seeking care at an A&E unit because they cannot get a GP appointment. Amid such challenges to primary care, 1Stop4aGP is well placed to support the NHS and to fulfil patient expectations, however, what does the virtual service encompass?

The GP consultation service gives employees and their families access to:

Telephone helpline:
- Round-the-clock support from a GP, with no limit on consultation time or the number of times employees can call.
Video consultations:
- Face-to-face appointments with a doctor can offer more in-depth advice. Booked initially via telephone, video consultations are available 7 days a week between 8:00am and 10:00pm.
Electronic private prescriptions:
- Our doctors can issue private prescriptions that can be delivered via an online pharmacy directly to an employee’s workplace or home.

Vicki Stone, Marketing and Communications Director at 1Stop4aGP said: “Healthcare is no longer confined to a GP surgery. With our virtual service, patients have access to fully qualified GPs at a time that suits them, with the service available 24/7 from anywhere in the world. Furthermore, the service is also provided to immediate family members at no extra cost. It’s a real game changer."

She also commented that such virtual services are particularly effective for employees who have long commutes to work away from their local area. They also free up NHS GP time for people with symptoms because many people who needed repeat prescriptions for long-term or chronic conditions usually needed to visit the GP surgery in the past for sign-off, despite their circumstances not changing. There are some situations where there is a need to show possible physical symptoms, e.g. a rash on the arm. With the video call option, a picture can be taken of the arm, uploaded online so the doctor is able to see the physical symptoms to allow a quick diagnosis to be delivered.

In customer feedback, one employee highlighted the situation with their GP where they rang first thing in the morning and were on the phone to the GP surgery for an hour trying to get an appointment. When they eventually got through, they were told there were no appointments left for that day.” This further emphasises the benefits of our virtual service, available 24/7.

Some people have questioned how such services will work alongside the client’s own NHS GP. Will NHS GPs be cut out of the equation? David Currie, Partnership Director at 1Stop4aGP said: “When a patient has any kind of consultation with our GPs, they build up a case history. If a client wants those records transferred to his own GP, this can be done immediately. Our GPs will ask whether that patient wants their medical records sent onto their own NHS GP, unless of course it is something minor.”

It is clear that there is a changing emphasis on treating illness to managing patient wellbeing. Increasingly there will be a requirement for employers to monitor the wellbeing of their employees in the workplace, wherever that may be.

Our core service provides: