Covid introduced many to the convenience of remotely delivered consultations

Responding to the Health Foundation’s analysis of GP consultation requests, which finds that only 10% of patient care requests indicate a preference for face-to-face GP consultation, Ruth Rankine, director of primary care at the NHS Confederation, said:  

"While it is important that general practice has capacity to provide face-to-face appointments to those patients who need one, the pandemic has accelerated the digitisation of healthcare and introduced many patients to the option and convenience of remotely delivered consultations.

"For many, this new way of accessing general practice has become the norm and we should not use pre-pandemic rates of face-to-face appointments as a yardstick for what good looks like. We need to build on what worked well during the pandemic, ensure patients have access to the care they need when they need it, and provide flexibility for general practice to respond to those needs in the most appropriate way."