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I was playing tennis with my wife last week when a sharp pain in my knee brought the game to an abrupt end.
As well as hurting my pride (he finished the game when my wife was down two sets), it also left me limping and in need of immediate professional medical advice as to whether treatment was required.
I contacted my GP, but there was no appointment available for several days.
This is not unusual; Up to one in 20 people in the UK have to wait more than a month to see a GP.
I then considered going to the Accident and Emergency department at my local hospital, but knew I might spend a few hours in the waiting room.
Online Doctors: Remote GP consultations cost from £29 for a short appointment where you can tell a doctor about your ailment and ask for treatment advice.
So I decided to try a ‘remote GP’ service. These are private companies that offer appointments with a GP over the phone or via video call from your smartphone.
They cost from £29 for a short appointment where you can tell a doctor about your ailment and ask for advice on treatment.
They can write prescriptions if you need them and arrange for them to be sent to the nearest pharmacy for pickup. They can also make referrals if you need more specialized treatment.
You provide your details, including address, age and gender, as well as payment details. However, your NHS medical history is not accessed as part of the consultation.
Beware of hidden costs
However, although the main prices seemed attractive, I soon discovered a host of hidden extras.
For example, Tap GP charged £39 for a ten-minute consultation. But if you need a sick note from the doctor, for example to deliver to your place of work or education, an additional £9 will be charged. Charge the same amount for making a referral. Others do not charge extra for such services.
Private and remote GPs can write prescriptions, but must pay for them privately and not through the NHS.
That means you would have to pay for prescriptions even if you normally get them for free on the NHS. NHS prescriptions cost £9.90 per item, but can cost more if written privately.
The cheapest appointment I could find with a remote GP was £29 with a company called Medicspot. However, the fine print revealed that this was only for an off-peak time, which could be four days from now.
The main attraction of these services is that they are available seven days a week, usually between 8am and 10pm A same-day emergency “express” appointment with Medicspot costs £59.
Some services require you to pay for an appointment before you are assigned a specific time, while others allow you to book an appointment at the same time you pay. If you want to be sure when your appointment will be, opt for the latter.
Several services offer a standard appointment time of just ten minutes, but charge you more if you exceed that.
For example, the GP service charges £49 for ten minutes. Going over this limit costs £49 more, so a 15-minute consultation could end up costing you £98 or, if you opt for half an hour, it would cost you £147.
Bupa warns against trying to save money by paying for a short consultation. A Bupa spokesperson says: ‘A 30-45 minute initial consultation may be a good idea because it may take that long to get to the real reason why someone is calling.
For example, they may have an embarrassing problem like bladder control, which only comes to light after they start discussing a related topic.
Get a FREE appointment
Many health, income protection and critical illness insurance policies offer free access to private remote GP appointments.
Providers offering this service include life insurer MetLife, Bupa and Legal & General, Royal London, Aviva and HSBC.
Medications: Remote GPs can write prescriptions if you need them and arrange for them to be sent to the nearest pharmacy for you to collect.
These policies typically have 24-hour access to experts who can immediately schedule you to speak with a qualified primary care doctor over the phone or online.
Alan Lakey, director of critical illness cover comparison website CIExpert, says: “The benefits of having remote access to a GP are considered extremely valuable, but many customers are still unaware they exist in their policies.”
Employers often offer these types of appointments as a benefit. So before you shell out for an appointment, check that you’re not already eligible for a free one.
Choose a reputable company
The professional body representing doctors, the British Medical Association (BMA), says there is no substitute for personalized self-care.
A spokesperson says: “We recommend that you see a doctor in person where possible – ideally, someone who has seen you before so that there is continuity of care.” An example of how important an individual consultation is is back pain.
“With an online consultation, the doctor may not go beyond this problem, but could be masking a more serious underlying problem, such as cancer, which can only be detected by spending time with a patient.”
The Mail’s leading columnist Dr Martin Scurr recommends face-to-face appointments. He says: “It is very difficult when a doctor has never met someone, does not know their personality or their medical history, to provide them with responsible medical care through an online consultation or a phone call.”
If you decide to seek help online, make sure you receive support from a qualified doctor who is a member of an accredited body.
Visit gmc-uk.org/registration-and-licensing/the-medical-register#searchtheregister and tap on a doctor’s name and it will be possible to verify their credentials.
Looking for doctors who have worked for the NHS is another mark of quality to look out for, as it demonstrates a level of training and experience in British hospitals and medical centres. Remote GPs advertising NHS credentials included Livi and Tap GP.
Providers such as GP Care Now and Medicspot also included names and profiles of doctors available to speak to. While there was no guarantee of quality, it was reassuring that they were happy to provide their names.
Already covered? Many health, income protection and critical illness insurance policies offer free access to private remote GP appointments.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, President of the Royal College of GPs, adds: “It is important that we take advantage of technological advances to improve care and choice in the way we provide care to patients, as long as it is done safely.”
‘In recent years we have seen many services offering remote general practice consultations for a fee, and some patients find them convenient and useful, especially for simple medical problems.
‘If patients decide to use these services, we suggest choosing services that follow GMC guidelines on secure remote consultation and prescribing and are verified by the Care Quality Commission.
“They should also be aware that the healthcare professional they consult may not have access to their NHS medical records.”
Emma Clarke of Which? says: ‘Search engines like Google allow businesses to advertise to get their names to the top. This should not be considered a recommendation.”
I chose a remote GP service that offered an appointment in less than two hours. I downloaded their app on my smartphone ahead of time and logged in a few minutes early so I was ready to go.
At the appointed time, a doctor appeared via video on my screen and asked to see my ID before talking to me about my knee. After the call, the GP emailed me the details of the call so I could share them with my GP.
It was nothing like seeing my regular GP, but having an appointment in less than two hours was impressive, even if I had to pay for it.
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