GPs - working from home, wherever that might be!

The GP is employed by the Hurley Group, not the NHS. She is employed specifically to carry out telephone and online consultations. If patients need a physical examination, she will refer them to a colleague in the clinic.

If it's only a phone or online consultation I don't think it matters to me where they are so long as properly qualified and are keeping "up to date" with their practice.

This is not a story about an NHS GP.

I would want to know that, when in Greece, or the UK for that matter, that she was working alone in a room with nothing to distract her from her work and all would be be ing conducted in a professional manner.

I am not saying doctors should not work from home, but given the critical nature of their work, they should always work in professional surroundings,

At the beginning of the COVID lockdown DD nearly died because her doctor diagnosed and prescribed for her without seeing her - and he was ringing from the surgery.

If I have to see a doctor I prefer to see the one who spoke to me on the phone.

My husband has literally just come off the phone. His Doctor just rang him from a Withheld number so I nearly didn’t answer. It always says “Doctor” when someone from our surgery rings.

Fine with me.

I speak on the phone with GP, all sort of consultations.

My husband consults by phone, he makes sure he can focus, hear, and have paper/pen at hand, laptop running. Other family members consult out of the country, also concentrating/taking notes.

NotSpaghetti

If it's only a phone or online consultation I don't think it matters to me where they are so long as properly qualified and are keeping "up to date" with their practice.

Agree what's the issue?
It's common since the Pandemic in fact I work from home analysing Pacemaker clinical data, phoning patients if needed, writing reports organising their clinical follow up appointments.
We just send a letter to patient which gets printed off within our Department.
All the information I need is available via the Trust Link which I log into via a secure link. We don't need the Patient in front of us unless there is a problem, which I would have established either from my clinical judgment or speaking directly to them.
This is now the future, it's happening through the world . The vast majority of the patients love it, no issues getting into the Hospital, no waiting around. Patients are told at implant this is the way they will be followed up, so they are aware.

So doing a GP clinic with everything they need, it's going to happen more and more before any Face to face appointment is given.

So did The Times actually lie and say she was an NHS G.P?

She works remotely for the NHS.

I have no problem with phone consultations, but our family nearly suffered the loss of a member when the system failed her.

What would worry me is that if a practice, or private company started employing, overseas Gps, who were domiciled in their native country and were not familiar with the UK or our medical system problems could arise.

Medecine is 50% science and 50% human relations and there ar so many nuances, minor cultural attitudes, language subtleties, that would be lost where the GP is not familiar with the country, misunderstandings when notes are passed on to the GP seeing the patient - and how would the doctor be supervised to check that they were working in a professional manner and not taking patient calls, while stirring lunch, or lounging in the garden.

As I said, I have no problem with telephone appointments, but not with doctors conducting them from another country. That would apply even if the doctor was British.

I think the major issue with GPS phone consultation, is that it is driving people to very hard pressed A&E.

I’ve spent some time in different A&Es lately and it seems clear to me that people are turning up because they simply can’t get to see their GP.

Whitewavemark2

I think the major issue with GPS phone consultation, is that it is driving people to very hard pressed A&E.

I’ve spent some time in different A&Es lately and it seems clear to me that people are turning up because they simply can’t get to see their GP.

Yes

GP's have lots of tasks to do many of which are done at home in their own time.
Patient consultations, however they are conducted, are just a part of their workload.
Of course they need to be professional about their surroundings when working, but they can do that wherever in the world they are - really don't see the issue in the OP.

Surely the point is that although this doctor is now living overseas she isn’t completely lost to the NHS? There is a dire GP shortage, the effects of which are mentioned daily on Gransnet. Her doing this is better than her leaving altogether and not being replaceable by her practice surely?

The issue is the obvious drop in levels of service. There's an awful lot that a trained medic can tell just by observing a patient. Telephone appointments are lived by GPs. I can see the role of GP being reduced and eventually eradicated, replaced by AI. Maybe that would be an improvement?

Loved!

Obviously it is better if every patient is seen in person by a GP, given a full examination, listened to and then a decision is made as to what to do next Daisymae, but that’s not where we are. I don’t think we will ever return to that either until the job is made far more attractive. It will take many years because so many doctors have left. In the meantime I’d rather have a virtual consultation from a doctor who is overseas than nothing.

Obviously nobody wants to be in the terrible situation that Monica's family was in.
Some GP work must be done in person. Not everything is suitable for phone/online.

My husband has literally just come off the phone. His Doctor just rang him from a Withheld number so I nearly didn’t answer. It always says “Doctor” when someone from our surgery rings

Many professional; people use a withheld number. I used to do quite a lot of telephone interviewing from home when I was an academic. While I was happy to give respondsnts my office number at the uni if they wanted further information about the research I would not have wanted them to know my home number. I have an ex-directory number and my landline still rings was "withheld".

Daisymae

She works remotely for the NHS.

She works for the Hurley Group, which is a private organisation with contracts to provide GP services for some parts of the country, including large areas of London.

Casdon

Obviously it is better if every patient is seen in person by a GP, given a full examination, listened to and then a decision is made as to what to do next Daisymae, but that’s not where we are. I don’t think we will ever return to that either until the job is made far more attractive. It will take many years because so many doctors have left. In the meantime I’d rather have a virtual consultation from a doctor who is overseas than nothing.

I agree. This is the future (for good or bad). I've had more consultations with doctors over the last year than I have in my whole adult life. At least half have been telephone consultations or online/text communications. I've been given face-to-face appointments when necessary. I'm satisfied with that. Quite honestly, I don't care if the doctor is ringing from next door, another part of the country or a different country.

growstuff I think that was our attitude when overseas call centres were first introduced, but we soon discovered all the problems, including cultural problems, poorly trained staff, and, uncertain English. There is no reason not to think this will not happen to overseas medical call systems.

Will these foreign doctors be registered and tested by the relevant medical body to the same standards that it registers and tests foreign doctors working in the UK or will they be accepted without such checks?

I can see so many problems about this scheme, that goes beyond the 'what is the problem with phone consultations, we have had them for a long time' attitude.

As it is my daughter came close to death following a doctor forgetting to order a necessary test in a phone consultation. Had she been in the surgery one glance at her would have alerted him to her problem. As it was it was another 3 months before her GP ordered the relevant test and when the result came back rang her up and sent her for immediate medical treatment as she was told 'You could have a fatal heart attack at any moment'. She was classified as being 'critically ill'. which means life-threatening.

I am sorry if I cannot be so uncritically welcoming of this new move, but our family know what can happen if it goes wrong in the UK with UK doctors, the capacity for it going wrong where doctors/ paramedics/111 staff are in overseas countries with no knowledge of the UK.is far wider and i think the controls will be far slacker.

MOnica I'm not in favour of outsourcing GP services to some random part of the world, but that's not the situation being reported here.

The GP has worked in the UK for 20 years, so presumably has a good understanding of how the system works. She works for the Hurley Group, who operate a number of GP practices in London and elsewhere. If patients in one of those practices rings up, they will by default be given online or telephone consultations. I don't see it really matters where the doctor is.

Just to point out that all GP practices are small to medium size businesses who contract their services to the NHS.