Doctors are reluctant to use telemedicine and misunderstand what patients want, says NHS Confederation report

Clinicians’ reluctance to interact with patients electronically rather than face to face may have “disastrous consequences” for public health, the NHS Confederation said in a report published on 20 January.

Its report says that “active and passive” resistance by doctors, which is often based on incorrect assumptions about what patients want, has “stifled” the use of telemedicine and electronic health records in the NHS.

This verdict will add fuel to the debate over the government’s plans to create an “information revolution” in the NHS in England. A consultation that closed last week attracted critical comments …