The doctor will see you online now! A third of GP consultations are now carried out remotely
The latest NHS England figures show 33.3 per cent of consultations were conducted over the phone or online in June.
This is up from 30.9 per cent a year earlier and 28.3 per cent in June 2023.
Patient groups described the 'slipping back into old ways' as 'very worrying' and warned serious diseases such as cancer are once again at increased risk of being missed.
But family doctors said remote consultations 'offer convenience and flexibility that many patients value', and the majority of appointments are still delivered face to face.
As many as four in 10 appointments were carried out by phone or online during the pandemic, but the proportion fell once the impact of Covid-19 eased and had dropped to 27.7 per cent in January 2023.
In the past two years the figure has risen slowly but steadily, driven by a sharp increase in consultations taking place online.
These accounted for only 1.5 per cent of all GP appointments in June 2023 but had jumped to 4.9 per cent by June 2024 and 8.0 per cent in June this year.
This has helped push up the combined figure for phone and online appointments to its current post-pandemic high.
The figure just for telephone appointments has remained broadly unchanged over this period, at about 25 per cent.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which campaigns for elderly Britons, said: 'These figures showing GPs slipping back into old ways are very worrying.
'Phone and online appointments are more convenient for the doctors, so receptionists are keen to push people down that route but is is manifestly unsafe.
'I'm still hearing from people who are told they can have a telephone appointment the same day or the next day but they will have to wait two weeks if they want to be seen face-to-face - that's not a fair choice and it's why I think there should be a legal right to a timely in-person appointment for anyone who wants one.
'Remote appointments exclude people who cannot access technology or are not able or comfortable using it.
'And remote appointments prevent GPs from assessing the entire patient and their overall health.
'If you are doing a video consultation they can only see the bit of you on the screen and if it is via telephone it is even worse - as they only have your voice to go on.
'With in-person appointments, the GP is assessing how you present when you walk in the door and as you sit down. They can spot things they would not see remotely.
'I'm concerned about serious diseases, such as cancer, being missed as a result of this rise in remote care.'
Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), said: 'Remote consultations, whether delivered over the phone or via video, can offer convenience and flexibility that many patients value, and evidence has shown that in the vast majority of cases, remote care is safe.
'Often a GP might initially consult with a patient remotely and then ask them to come into the practice if it's necessary to see them in person.
'However, we also know that many patients prefer to access their care in-person, and this is how the majority of appointments are still delivered.
'Over the last 12 months, GPs and their teams have delivered a record-breaking number of appointments, and nearly 250 million were carried out in person.'
Some 63.3 per cent of GP appointments in June in England were in person, data shows, down from 65.3 per cent a year earlier and 68.4 per cent in June 2023.
Online appointments include those carried out using live chat tools or non-video apps, as well as video-based calls.
The proportion of appointments taking place by phone or online varies across the regions, with the figures for June ranging from 38.2 per cent in London to 28.4 per cent in North East and Yorkshire.
Professor Hawthorne said the college 'supports a mixed-method approach to delivering care' in general practice and decisions on how appointments are carried out are between clinicians and patients.
'What's key is that when GPs are consulting with their patients remotely, they have access to the robust and up-to-date IT systems that allows them to do so safely and effectively,' she added.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'This Government is clear that patients should have access to health and care when they need it and people who prefer a face-to-face appointment should have one, so we are transforming the NHS app to make managing your healthcare online easy and flexible.'
An NHS England spokesperson said: 'Every GP practice must offer face-to-face appointments where patients want or need them, and many patients choose remote appointments where it is clinically appropriate and more convenient for them.
'GP teams are working hard to offer better access for patients, with a record number of appointments being carried out in the last year and recent findings showing the number of patients who are satisfied with their practice has improved.'
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