Express UK
Coming soon: Doctor visits replaced by iPads and Skype?
A new system of “virtual clinics” is being planned in which GPs connect with patients via iPads and Skype, an idea that NHS bosses are importing from India.
The reforms would save £2.9billion “almost immediately” and improve the lives of most patients, for example by avoiding the need to find child care during appointments, Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter said last week.
However, critics are concerned the initiative would create a two-tier NHS in which the less technologically able, particularly the elderly, would be left behind.
Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham called the plan “dangerous”, while Age UK said cutting the number of personal appointments would erode the vital trust between doctor and patient.
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Under Obamacare, there won’t even be an GP on the other end, just a bookmark/shortcut to WebMD.
RoadRunner on November 25, 2012 at 6:03 PM
I’d say those who get examined through a monitor are getting much less than those who go in and get a real examination. Yet, they managed to find some cranky old folks without computer monitors who think it would be them who get the short end of the stick.
Too funny.
keep the change on November 25, 2012 at 6:05 PM
The military has been doing this with their ‘preventive health assessments’ for years.
When the pha’s started years ago, you had to go into the doctor, they did blood work checking cholesterol, etc. you had a sits own with at least a pa to go over a checklist you filled out and set up any follow ups you might need or want.
The last pha I did the year I retired in 2009, it was over the Internet. You filled out a questionnaire and based on your responses, you would then have to answer more surveys. Unless you answered something ‘wrong’ you wouldn’t even get and appt to go in for a cholesterol check.
The pha’s went from being merely an annual annoyance to an annual joke.
Same thing will happen here.
They’ll do the same stuff under ocare, make a big show out of it and after a few years, the cost will get to be too much and you’ll end up filling out an email questionnaire about the status of your health. Hopefully the questionnaire will come at a time when you’re sick otherwise you won’t get in to see the doc.
catmman on November 25, 2012 at 6:12 PM
So stupid.
Doing a live assessment, you get a lot of information from skin texture, temperature, smell and anything else you use your senses for to figure out what’s going on with your patient.
Ridiculous.
Mommynator on November 25, 2012 at 6:15 PM
doctor visits? people i know are seeing physicians assitants and nurse practicioners.
we should be so lucky to see a doctor here. but wait….obamacares coming….should get better…LOL LOL…te jodiste America.
renalin on November 25, 2012 at 6:20 PM
i went in to see a nurse one time, and she talked to me (she knew my history) and decided to draw some blood…right then.
glad she did..i had a real problem that was very serious. professionals look at the person from a lot of different views (pallor, etc).
i know that your average young healthy left-wing activist thinks that drs. suck and are rich…and like barry said will pull out tonsils just to make money…and are basically greedy lazy people…but that’s because they are too dim to see
r keller on November 25, 2012 at 6:24 PM
Data is not the only that is up in the clouds.
OldEnglish on November 25, 2012 at 6:27 PM
btw…like i said, this was a nurse that caught it…i wasn’t scheduled for a Dr visit. I’ve has very good experience with PAs…and then she brings in my MD to finalize…so the PA doesn’t act in a vacuum.
r keller on November 25, 2012 at 6:29 PM
That should help with severe bleeding and gunshot wounds…
Brooklyn CPR:
“Get up before you f’n die.”
viking01 on November 25, 2012 at 7:02 PM
I can’t wait until we start diagnosing pregnancy and STD’s with this brave new system. And this nonsense is only the tip of the iceberg!
MelonCollie on November 25, 2012 at 7:58 PM
For routine prescription renewals, office visits and such, I call this a big improvement. Likewise for use of nurse practitioners in routine matters.
And, as a recovering attorney, I’d say likewise for paralegals.
The public has been bilked for decades by a system that uses specialty-educated, highly paid people to do clerical and paraprofessional level chores.
Sidenote: The last nurse practitioner I had was as satisfactory or better than any doctor in my lifetime.
petefrt on November 25, 2012 at 8:05 PM
I can’t imagine a lawyer bad-mouthing doctors. No-sirree. Never.
viking01 on November 25, 2012 at 8:38 PM
Maybe in a few more years, we’ll be getting STD’s from dating sites?
Now that’s a virus for Avast to prevent.
petefrt on November 25, 2012 at 9:06 PM