Welsh want to contact GPs online

Almost four out of five internet users would like to be able to contact their GP practice online, according to a survey conducted in Wales.

Informing Healthcare, the Welsh NHS IT programme, questioned 313 internet users in July and August this year about how they would like to use the internet for healthcare.

A total of 78% said that they would order repeat prescriptions, book an appointment with their GP or update their details online if these services were available.

This month five practices, based in Anglesey, Bridgend, Cardiff, Llandysul and Swansea, have begun to test different aspects of Informing Healthcare’s secure patient website My Health Online.

In all five practices patients will be able to use My Health Online to book appointments and request repeat prescriptions and at three of the surgeries patients will also be able to look at their health records online.

Findings from the trial will begin to be evaluated from December and Informing Healthcare says its long term is to give everyone in Wales the chance to review their record over the internet.

Informing Healthcare’s clinical director and GP Dr Martin Murphy said: “The results of this research provide a strong indication that people want to use the internet to provide them with easier access to basic health tasks – such as contacting their GP practice and ordering their medicines.”

The survey found that women aged between 30 and 59 were likely to be the biggest users of online health services.

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of those surveyed said a password plus additional characters from another password offered appropriate security to access their medical record.

Almost the same number (73%) indicated that they would prefer to receive a password/pin in the post rather than collect it from a GP or elsewhere.

Dr Murphy said: “We want to make access to online health services as easy as possible without compromising on security. These findings echo information we have also gathered from meetings and discussions with a number of patient groups across the country. People are saying to us ‘keep it safe, but keep it simple’.”