Patients of the future will expect to use social media and virtual clinics to interact with their GPs, the Royal College of General Practitioners says.
A new RCGP report, ‘the 2022 GP: A vision for General Practice in the future NHS’, says that patients will expect GPs to communicate with them through texts, emails and online.
“Based on the current direction of progress, the 2022 patient will expect to access their GP or primary care nurse remotely, attend virtual clinics involving primary and specialist practitioners, and communicate with their healthcare team via text message or social media-type tools,” says the report.
It adds that patients will want more virtual interaction with their GPs, “supported by mobile technology and online access to their own medical records, to electronic prescriptions and to referral systems.”
The report calls for a need to enhance the skills and flexibility of primary care staff to ensure they are “fit for purpose” to deal with complex care needs.
“The GP of the future will also need the skills and expertise to ensure that e-health systems are used strategically where they add value to patient care, for example, in increasing accessibility for certain hard-to-reach groups (such as young people), and in preventing unnecessary admissions by supporting home care,” it says.
Chair of the RCGP, Dr Clare Gerada, said that as the NHS was changing, GPs needed to step up and “meet the challenges ahead”.
“This vision outlines ways in which to provide easier access to a more flexible and integrated system of primary care that will benefit our patients immensely. It maps out a way for patients to receive the best possible care in and out of hours from the start to the end of their lives,” she said.
The report highlights the need for integrated care, but also warns that this will only happen with more funding.
“This plan is unachievable without investment in primary care manpower, premises, infrastructure and technology,” it says.
Gerada added that it was unfair that GPs did 90% of NHS work for only 9% of the budget.
"Innovation and reform are vital but must be underpinned by investment. The government must recognise that general practice is the most cost effective way of providing care and act accordingly, by urgently reversing the real terms decline in the amount of money that general practice receives.“
Last year, the college issued a ‘social media highway code’ to advice GPs on how to use social media.
It is also leading a project to make sure patients get access to their GP record by 2015.