Welsh government on Tuesday (July 7) extended video consultation services to community pharmacies, dental practices and opticians.
The latest move by the minister for Health and Social Services, Vaughan Gething follows the successful roll-out of the service in primary care, community and secondary care during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A pilot will now take place in July to extend the services to dentistry, optometry and community pharmacies who have all experienced an increase in demand for additional services, including people seeking advice for common ailments.
Video consultation will enable community pharmacies to provide advice for common ailments and emergency contraception services.
It will allow pharmacies to conduct Discharge Medicines Review and give support for people who want to stop smoking.
Gething, said: “Delivering care closer to home through the use of technology has always been a key part of A Healthier Wales, to deliver healthcare away from hospitals to communities, and where possible in people’s homes.
“The coronavirus pandemic has meant that we have had to rapidly expand and adapt services. Video consultation has allowed us to overcome the challenges that social distancing brings. The delivery of video consultation has been fast tracked and is testament to the work of NHS Wales in delivering this service ahead of time to support patients.
“Thousands of people have already received care via video consultation. I’m pleased to be able to extend this service to dentistry, optometry and community pharmacies which will see even more people benefit.”
Video consultation has rapidly expanded during the last few months and has helped to transform how people access healthcare services during the Covid-19 response.
To date over 6,400 GP video consultations have been undertaken and over 8,800 video consultations to support community and secondary care.
Over 91 per cent of patients who have used the service have rated it as excellent, really good or good.
Video consultation has enabled essential services to continue, whilst also protecting patients and NHS employees from increased risk of infection.
Evaluation of the service has shown that the video consultation has saved 36,000 miles of travel and 1,200 hours of travel time. It has also reduced Co2 emissions by nine tonnes.
Cat Smith, Labour MP for Lancaster and Wyre