Smell a rat

Smell a rat – smells like medicine to me

The web is here to stay. Lots of doctors wish it would go away. Most things can be bought on the web. Half a life can be lived online if one is so inclined, so why not get medicine from the web?

It is said the web is ungoverned. In truth, web clinics are regulated but hardly anybody, professional or otherwise, seems to know. The regulator is the Care Quality Commission.

If doctors want to consult with patients online they need to register. Lots do not bother, and nobody seems to mind: not the GMC, the Care Quality Commission, not the medicines regulator nor the pharmacy bodies. Web medicine goes in their ‘too hard to sort out’ basket.

Is it any wonder doctors don’t have faith in online medicine – nobody is enforcing the rules.

The best the regulators have managed so far is to front an ad of a man regurgitating a rat whilst a doom laden voice warns of the worst that can happen on the web. Not a hint of any sane advice imparted. It could have been an ad about driving under the influence whilst having unprotected sex, for all it had to do with medicine.

My company has just launched a web clinic. We are Dr Fox. It took six months to fully comply with the regulation. Now, not only do we give a good service, we have the legal basis and paperwork to prove it.

I want to make a plea to the medical community. Tell your patients they don’t always need to negotiate an appointment, find a parking space, sit in a waiting room, be a patient, queue at the chemists and make their way home, for something as simple as a hay fever spray. They could sit at home and get the same thing delivered to their door at the click of the mouse, whilst also relieving the workload of GPs.

The sky will not fall in.