What Is an Online Doctor Appointment?
An online doctor appointment is essentially a video consultation where you’ll discuss things as you normally would at an in-person appointment.
With the myGP app, you can not only book an appointment with your GP but also have an online doctor appointment on your smartphone, tablet, or computer.
This is a quick, convenient, and secure alternative for you as a patient to consult your GP or a practice-based health professional for medical advice via the internet.
This eliminates having to take time off work or relying on relatives to attend your appointments, which can be useful if you find it difficult to talk about personal matters face-to-face. You don’t have to tell anyone where you’re going or have them make an appointment for you.
Patients who have registered for online services with their NHS GP practice will be able to have an online video consultation for free. Find out how to book an online doctor appointment online.
FAQ's
Not all online doctor appointments provide the same services, so it’s important to consider when choosing the right one for you. The type of video consultation you will have depends on your GP surgery.
You will receive a text or email from your GP surgery with the date and time of the appointment. When it is time, you will speak to a health professional with the camera on your smartphone, tablet, or computer.
You will receive advice on what to do next – however, if your doctor or nurse feels like you need to be seen, an in-person appointment may be arranged, for example, if you needed a blood test.
Video consultations have useful tools including capturing a patient’s symptoms and sending a report with areas of clinical risk and severity to assess the right course of action.
With serious symptoms, GPs can signpost patients to seek urgent medical attention if there’s a concern, helping to diagnose serious illnesses at the earliest opportunity. Many online systems use scoring systems for mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
Yes, you can speak to your doctor through video consultations on the myGP app (depending on your location)
Alternatively, you can have a telephone consultation.
Yes – online consultations are video calls with real-life health professionals as you would encounter in an in-person visit to your GP surgery.