Telemedicine: Coronavirus

(asked on 2nd November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential for video communication technology to assist with the backlog of healthcare appointments that accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Answered by
Lord Kamall Portrait
Lord Kamall
This question was answered on 11th November 2021

The National Health Service (NHS) is helping people to access healthcare services both face to face and virtually, via video and telephone consultations. NHS England and NHS Improvement are monitoring the use of virtual consultations as part of the National Outpatients Transformation Programme. There have been over 29 million virtual consultations since April 2020, protecting access to services and reducing the need for extra Personal Protective Equipment in hospital outpatient clinics. Virtual consultations are a key part of modern outpatient services, making up almost a quarter of all outpatient appointments.

General Practice teams are using triage and virtual consultations to minimise COVID-19 infection risks and manage demand by navigating patients to the right services. Virtual consultations remain an important part of the NHS’s plans for recovering elective services.

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