Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the introduction of video triage at A&Es during the covid-19 outbreak; and what plans he has to promote that policy beyond the outbreak.

Video consultations are used primarily for elective and outpatient care rather than accident and emergency (A&E). However, Moorfields Hospital has successfully used video consultations for eye emergencies only.

The National Integrated Care and COVID Hospital Team is not aware of any assessment of the effectiveness of video consultation in A&E. The Improvement Directorate has been leading on video consultation work, but this is primarily within elective care.