News Please enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter: A think tank claims remote diagnosis using the internet and call centres is the way forward for the NHS. According to the Future Foundation, remote diagnosis, which is currently being used by the government to assist health staff with the swine flu pandemic, will increasingly be used by the NHS to diagnose conditions such as impotence, sexually transmitted infections and cystitis. A report by the think tank says internet and call centre-based consultations could be used to relieve pressure on primary care resources. Currently, only a small percentage of prescriptions are dispensed without a traditional face-to-face consultation with a GP, but the report also suggests more prescriptions could be issued remotely. Judith Kleine Holthouse, lead author of the report by the Future Foundation, said: Despite its clinical shortcomings, the use of the internet and call centres for diagnosing flu and distributing medication demonstrates that remote diagnosis can be an efficient way of dealing with certain conditions. However, while the authors argue that the use of call centre and internet diagnosis in the swine flu response could prove to be a watershed moment, they are calling for tight regulation to be imposed, pointing to the potential for meningitis to be diagnosed as swine flu.  |
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