During the recent Big Freeze across the UK and Ireland, many people were unable to travel to their places of employment due to poor road conditions or the suspension of public transport. However, many others were fortunate enough to be able to work from home using a variety of remote communication and connectivity options. While teleworking delivers some flexibility and alternatives to travelling to the office, what happens when you need to do something else that usually happens in a face-to-face setting, such as seeing your doctor?

A number of new services are gaining momentum in the US and Europe that allow you to have a remote consultation over the Internet with a doctor, who can provide advice, offer lab tests and prescribe medication to you. Services such as MDLiveCare and NowClinic are some of the pioneers in this space and are operating within the existing legislation, such as state licensing requirements. Treatment is available for a wide variety of conditions ranging from acid reflux to mild Pneumonia. A network of local laboratories can assist with tests if they are needed, and electronic prescriptions can be sent electronically to your local pharmacy.

It’s not just in the US though where services like this are available. In Denmark, a number of telehealth and telemedicine initiatives are offered based upon seamless integration with the country’s electronic health record system. A recent New York Times article described this in detail for the case of a patient being treated for a lung condition, who regularly consults with his doctor over the Internet and receives changes to his medication electronically.

There are challenges with these approaches however. First off, there is strong resistance from doctors who cite the value of providing a physical examination before deciding on a treatment regime. Secondly, depending on your country of residence, there may be some legal and regulatory roadblocks. In some countries in the EU, an interaction with a doctor cannot be considered a medical encounter unless the doctor and patient are physically in the same room – an obvious barrier to remote consultations.

Personally, I favour the availability of remote visits to the doctor. For me it would provide increased flexibility on surgery hours, fit in with family and travel commitments and still deliver care for less serious conditions. It would also be beneficial for people who are nervous or uncomfortable with going to their local doctor. Of course, this type of service would not eliminate in-person visits to the doctor for all situations, in fact many conditions will still be best treated face-to-face, but it does give the patient some greater choice.

If this service existed where I live, I’d be first in line to sign up but what about you? Have you ever had an online consultation? Would you prefer to see your doctor in cyberspace rather than in person? I think it will only be a few years before this offering is widely available and believe that it is a natural progression of technology into our everyday lives.