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Push Doctor temporarily suspends appointments for under-18s

Digital GP provider Push Doctor has temporarily stopped all appointments for under-18s as ‘part of a series of service updates’, it has announced.

It  released a statement on its website saying the updates were to review ‘patient safety’ and to change the way children consult on the platform.

The website stated child consultations will return to the service, but gave no definitive date for this.

It said: ‘We are in the process of introducing changes that will enable us to carry on delivering child consultations in the safest possible manner. While these changes are made, we have made the decision to temporarily cease consulting with children.’

The change will mean that children will no longer have their own Push Doctors accounts, but will be linked to their parents’ or guardians’ accounts.

It will also see parents having to authorise sharing their child’s medical records with their GP.

The statement said: ‘Patient safety is at the heart of everything we do at Push Doctor and, as a result, we are constantly reviewing the service that we provide, and seeing where improvements can be made. We have decided to make a slight change to the way children consult on our platform to ensure we are continuing to provide safe and effective care.’

Earlier this year, Push Doctor announced it was partnering with two primary care networks in Birmingham, giving 88,000 patients access to video consultations.

In 2018, superpractice Modality Partnership launched a pilot with Push Doctor to provide its patients with GP video consultations.