NHS app for GP video appointments signs up thousands of Londoners

The controversial service requires users to switch from their existing doctor
Controversial: the GP at Hand app offers video appointments with NHS doctors
GP at Hand
Ross Lydall @RossLydall10 January 2018

Thousands of Londoners have signed up for a controversial NHS smartphone service that allows video consultations with a GP around the clock.

The GP at Hand app attracted almost 7,000 Londoners in its first month, despite them having to switch registration from their existing doctor to receive the free advice.

Its backers say it has helped ease winter pressures on A&Es and GP surgeries by enabling those with flu to receive advice at home — while avoiding spreading the virus.

Dr Mobasher Butt, a GP at Hand partner, said fears from the medical establishment that it would create a “two-tier NHS” by attracting only younger, healthier patients had not been justified.

He told the Standard: “Of course it’s a working-age population, but we have been able to help people you might not necessarily have thought of. We have had a number of homeless people registered who are able to use the service. We have had people with mental health conditions. The third group is people with complex healthcare needs, particularly with mobility issues.”

The service, run by digital company Babylon Health, registers patients at the Lillie Road Surgery in Hammersmith, even if they live outside its catchment area. Its patient list increased from 4,970 in November to 11,867 last month following the launch, the BMJ revealed.

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Video consultations were available on average two hours 31 minutes after being requested. Patients requiring face-to-face consultations can be seen at Lillie Road or other GP at Hand clinics in Victoria, Poplar, Euston and Fulham. The app includes a symptom checker and offers a response to a query within hours. Adults can also use the service on behalf of children and prescriptions are sent to a nearby pharmacy. Dr Butt said: “We can have as many as 20 to 25 GPs doing video consultations at any one time. The consultation lasts 10 minutes, as it would in the NHS. About a third of consultations are out of hours.”

Richard Vautrey, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said some patients did not realise that they could not return to their local GP after registering with GP at Hand. “We have heard of incidents where patients have tried to make appointments back with their previous GP and they did not realise their registration status had changed.”

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