Doctors could Skype patients to save time and money.
Online video calling such as Skype could be used for GPs consultations with patients and save the NHS money, legal advisers have said.
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
4:44PM GMT 12 Nov 2012
Providing doctors are aware of the limitations of the technology and are careful that the video link in secure, video calling could reduce the number of missed GP appointments, a medical legal organisation has said.
Patients in rural areas or those with disabilities could use Skype to talk to their GP ‘face-to-face’ without having to leave their own home, the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland said in advice to doctors.
The organisation provides indemnity insurance and legal advice to members.
Jane Holmes: Who cares for the carers?
What happens when the carer becomes ill?
By Jane Holmes
November 12, 2012
Jane Holmes is chief executive of Wokingham-based charity Building for the Future which provides support and activities for disabled children.
She set up the charity after her daughter Kitty was born with severe cerebral palsy.
Yesterday, I was talking to a single mum of a disabled adult about respite provision.
My friend, whose beautiful young adult daughter has the developmental age of a baby, has found herself having to fight to get the help they need.
Of course she’s been through this once, when her daughter was a child, but the whole process starts anew at age eighteen.
What would you do if your adult child needed more care than the average baby? Just imagine it for a moment. And let’s not be complacent … all of our kids are just one car crash away ..
Carers sought for ‘rewarding’ respite scheme
The Shared Lives scheme, run by West Sussex County Council
Shared Lives carer, Jane Baskerville, with Richard Brooks and dogs Lucy and Larry
The Shared Lives scheme, run by West Sussex County Council, already has 73 carers providing care for 115 adults, but now the council wants to expand it. Under the initiative, adults who would normally live in residential care stay in a family environment with the carers.
Under the initiative, adults who would normally live in residential care stay in a family environment with the carers.
These respite placements can be short or long-term.
It is hoped the scheme could eventually be expanded to provide placements for the elderly, vulnerable mothers and babies and young offenders.
Martin and Jane Baskerville, of Brooklyn Avenue, Worthing, have been carers for 14 years and are keen believers in the approach, which they say tends to be of more benefit than living in larger care homes.
