How do video appointments work for a private GP?

How a video appointment works

1. The patient books a video appointment and pays, usually online.
2. They receive a secure link by email or text. Most platforms open in a phone or computer browser, with no app to install.
3. They join a virtual waiting room and allow their camera and microphone.
4. You confirm who they are, where they are and who else is in the room, then consult.
5. You record the consultation, send any prescription electronically, and share a written plan and safety-netting advice.

Always have a phone number to call if the video fails, and agree at the start that you will switch to the phone if the connection drops.

Why private GPs offer it

• Convenience for patients. No travel or time off work, which suits busy professionals, carers and people who are unwell.
• Flexibility for you. You can consult from home or between other commitments, and add sessions without renting more rooms.
• Reach. You can see patients outside your immediate area, within the limits of your registration and indemnity.
• Follow-ups. Reviews of results, medication and long-term conditions often work well on video.

Video also has costs. You cannot examine, some patients struggle with the technology, and the clinical risk rises when you have no NHS record, no examination and a patient you have never met.

When video is, and is not, suitable

The same professional standards apply as in the consulting room. The shared principles for remote consultations agreed by the GMC and other regulators say you should only prescribe when it is safe to do so, which it is not if you lack enough information about the patient or remote care cannot meet their needs. The GMC’s position is that if you cannot meet the standards for safe prescribing remotely, you should switch to face to face.

Video tends to work for:

• history-led problems and advice
• results and follow-up reviews
• visible conditions, such as many skin problems, with good lighting
• mental health reviews, where the patient is safe and has privacy.

Be more cautious with new chest pain or abdominal pain, anything needing an examination to rule out serious disease, children you cannot properly see, patients whose capacity you cannot assess, and requests for medicines open to misuse. Offer an in-person appointment or direct the patient to NHS services when video is not enough.

Identity, privacy and safeguarding

The CQC’s guidance for online and video consultations sets clear expectations:

• check the patient’s identity
• ask and record who is in the room with them
• make sure the patient is somewhere private, and give them time to move if not
• with a child, try to speak to and see the child, not only the parent
• ask more than usual about how the patient is generally, because you will miss things you would see in person.

Responsible providers also have systems to spot patterns that suggest risk, such as repeated requests for the same medicine.

Photos and intimate examinations

Patients can send photos to support an assessment. Agree how the image will be sent, use a secure route, save it to the record and delete it from any email account. You need the patient’s consent to receive and store the image.

Think carefully before any intimate examination by video. Consider whether it is clinically necessary, whether you can see well enough, and whether seeing the patient in person is possible. If you go ahead, offer a chaperone wherever possible, and remember that patients may worry about the image being stored.

Should you record consultations?

An older version of this page suggested recording video consultations for your records. We don’t recommend it as routine. A recording is part of the medical record, so it needs the patient’s explicit consent, secure storage and a retention period. Good written notes are what you need. Record that the consultation was by video, the identity checks, who was present, what you could and could not assess, and your safety-netting.

Choosing a platform

The GMC advises using a secure system approved for clinical use wherever possible. There are three broad options:

• Video built into your record system, where the call opens from the appointment and the note is written in the same place.
• Dedicated healthcare video tools, with waiting rooms and links sent by text.
• General meeting tools such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom, configured securely on a business account.

Whichever you choose, check that:

• calls are encrypted and the supplier signs a data processing contract
• patients can join from a phone browser without creating an account
• there is a waiting room, so patients cannot join each other’s calls
• recording is off by default
• it copes with weaker connections and has an easy fallback to phone.

Prescribing after a video consultation

A private e-prescribing service lets the patient collect from a pharmacy or have medicines delivered, without posting paper. Schedule 2 and 3 controlled drugs still need a paper private prescription. See private prescribing and EPS. With the patient’s agreement, tell their NHS GP what you prescribed.

Registration, indemnity and patients abroad

• CQC: providers delivering care by video are regulated in England. The CQC treats standalone online services as online primary care providers. See CQC registration by service.
• Indemnity: tell your provider you offer remote consultations.
• Patients abroad: check the rules in the patient’s country and your indemnity before consulting someone outside the UK. See who can I see as a private GP?

In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, independent services are regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and RQIA, so check their requirements for remote services.

Your own setup

Use a private room where you cannot be overheard, good light on your face, a headset, and a camera at eye level. Test the link before clinics. Have the patient’s phone number, and the details of local urgent care, to hand.