Video consultations. Image via https://unsplash.com.

Patients needing urgent care services are now benefiting from video consultations with clinicians.

To support the response to Covid-19, IC24 rolled out video consultations across its urgent care services in Kent, Norfolk and Waveney and mid and south Essex.

Many patients who are referred to out of hours urgent care service by NHS 111 have their problem resolved by telephone consultation, but the introduction of video consultations with a doctor or nurse allows the patient to receive an enhanced triage without having to leave their home.

Following an initial telephone triage, if the clinician would like to switch to a video consultation this is done by the patient using their own compatible device such as a mobile phone, using a link sent by text message.

During the current Covid-19 outbreak, video consultations have helped reduce the number of patients attending clinical settings such as hospitals for their out of hours appointment, unless it is clinically necessary to see the patient face to face.

David Brown, Chief Information Officer at IC24 said: 'We have got a long history of developing our own clinical systems and products and we are really proud to have worked with our technology partner Cisco to deliver a complex project during a national emergency. It was always our intention to roll out video consultations across our services, but Covid-19 accelerated that need and the technology has supported our ability to continue to provide a safe service and minimise risk to our patients and our people.'