A GOAL for the majority of GP practices to offer online repeat prescriptions and appointment booking is likely to be missed, new figures suggest.
Research by the think tank Reform Scotland shows just four health boards have so far met the standard of at least 90 per cent of surgeries offering the services by the end of 2017.
Only a quarter of NHS Highland practices offer online appointments booking and/or repeat prescribing, with the proportion 45 per cent in Ayrshire and Arran and 50 per cent in Shetland.
The 90 per cent benchmark was set in the Government’s eHealth Strategy published in March 2015.
Reform Scotland highlighted that while most patients positively rate their care and treatment at GP surgeries, four of the five most negatively answered questions on GPs in the 2015/16 Health and Care Experience Survey related to access issues.
As the majority of GP surgeries operate as private-sector contractors to the NHS, it is up to each individual practice whether or not they introduce online services.
The think tank has called for NHS boards to allow new GP surgeries to open alongside existing practices to stimulate competition.
“There is no reason for the state to protect GP practices, which are private businesses, from competition and this would increase choice and diversity as well as making practices more responsive to the needs of patients,” it said.
Research director Alison Payne said: “The Scottish Government and the Royal College of General Practitioners have recognised the benefit of offering more services, such as repeat prescriptions and booking appointments, online. Yet it is clear from these figures that too few people can benefit from these services.
“Giving people greater choice over their GP surgery will give them much greater influence over the way services are developed.”
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