Increasing email consultations may marginalise more people

doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7322.1189

BMJ 2001;323:1189 ( 17 November )

Letters

Increasing email consultations may marginalise more people

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ The explanations offered by Mechanic on why doctors feel stressed are both plausible and likely.¹ As a general practitionerin the United Kingdom I am often at the receiving end of increasedexpectations of patients, as well as increasing guidance not onlyon how I should do more but also on how I should do it. I am thinkinghere, for example, of the guidelines from the National Institutefor Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the national serviceframeworks.

I am, however, uncomfortable with Mechanic's proposed solution to the problem $---$ namely, that doctors should spend more timeconsulting by email with their patients. In the United Kingdominternet access is related to socioeconomic class, with thoseliving in a household headed by someone in a routine or semiroutineoccupation accessing the internet less often compared with thoseliving in households headed by someone in a managerial or professionaloccupation . . . [Full text of this article]

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