How have we done so far – lessons learned for the second wave. . . The Practice Perspective

Dr Karl Bennett – GP Senior Partner, Hartley Corner Surgery, and Lisa Harding – Director of Primary Care, Wessex LMCs This podcast was originally planned for the LMC’s Virtual Annual Conference on 5th November but, due to a packed agenda, we had instead to opt to send it out to practices directly.  We also intend to build on this podcast with more support resources relating to the management of online consultations.   e-Consult, the online consultation platform, is widely used across Wessex as well as nationally. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a huge increase in the use of e-Consult which has been largely positive for practices and patients alike.  However, many practices have seen an unprecedented increase in demand which has become difficult to manage, despite responding so swiftly and so efficiently to the demands placed upon them.  As a keen advocate for ICT, we therefore asked Dr Karl Bennett, Senior Partner at the Oakley Health Group and a Clinical Director at the North East Hants and Farnham CCG, how his Practice had implemented e-Consult and how they were managing the demands that the pandemic has placed on the system.