Online GP consultations have led to harm and death, investigation finds

Accessing GP services by online forms or on a smartphone, rather than face-to-face appointments with a doctor, could pose a risk to patient safety, according to the Health Services Safety Investigations Body. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Patients have died after describing their symptoms to a GP in an online form rather than at a face-to-face consultation, the NHS’s safety investigations body has revealed.

Online consultations with GP surgeries involve risks to patients’ safety and have led to sometimes serious harm and even death, an investigation by the Health Services Safety Investigations Branch (HSSIB) found.