Commenting in The Guardian, on the proposals to switch to digital to combat coronavirus, Graham Kendall, Digital Healthcare Council Director, said:

“Online consultations cancel the risk of patients transmitting coronavirus to their GPs, and vice versa. They are also much more convenient for patients and doctors in many cases. If just 5% of GP consultations went digital, there would be 300,000 fewer face-to-face visits to a GP a week – each of these could be a potential coronavirus transmission.

“However, NHS Digital figures show that in 2019 less than one in every 100 of all GP appointments was carried out by online video consultation and nearly four in 10 people had no access to online consultations at all. This isn’t because of a lack of technology, but in many, many cases the decision has been taken not to offer this type of consultation to patients.”