Thomas Rawnsley
9 Dec 2020 · Coroner Abigail Combes · South Yorkshire (West District)
The coroner's concerns
1. incomplete or inappropriate advice during virtual consultations
“Primary care are undertaking more and more virtual consultations with patients and the advice that is provided is inherently more risky over the phone with GPs not being in a strong position to assess the patients understanding of the advice that has been given in the same way as they can when the patient is sitting in front of them in the practice”
2. incorrect or incomplete information provided to patients
“The information which appears on the EPR is not accurately recorded on the patient information leaflet where pressures of time mean that paramedics are rushing to summarise the instructions on the EPR on the patient information leaflet”
3. incomplete clinical assessment leading to unsafe advice
“There is a standard set of questions asked by the call handler on a 111 or 999 call which is not then replicated for clinicians who subsequently triage a patient”