Physicians in London held a protest March 29 to voice concerns regarding GP at Hand, a 24-hour telemedicine service the U.K. National Health Service launched in November 2017, The Evening Standard reports.
Here are four things to know about the protest.
1. GP at Hand is an app-based telemedicine program NHS developed with Babylon Health, a London-based technology company. Through the app, patients can check their symptoms and, within two hours of booking, be connected with a general practitioner via smartphone video chat.
2. More than 3 million patients were eligible to join GP at Hand during its pilot rollout in 2017. Those who joined the program were required to leave their current practice, and transfer their medical records to five central London general practitioners, who are available for in-person visits when necessary.
3. During the protest, physicians argued the GP at Hand app was inconvenient, and created additional work for providers after patients registered for the program without fully understanding it.
Dr. Jackie Applebee, one of the organizers of the protest, told The Evening Standard, "Surgeries like my own are now getting lots of calls from angry former patients who didn't realize that by using GP at Hand they were deregistering from their usual surgery. Some are insisting on re-registering, causing a lot of extra work for our staff."
4. A GP at Hand spokesperson told The Evening Standard the service has enrolled more than 26,000 patients and received more than 8,700 5-star ratings.
"People have the right to choose their NHS practice. GP at Hand is an NHS service; paid for by the NHS; providing NHS services to all patients — just like the vast majority of GP practices throughout the U.K.," he said. "Londoners clearly like GP at hand, which as a free-at-point-of-need NHS service, extends 24/7 primary healthcare access to more members of the public."