Doctors are putting patients at risk by insisting they access care online or through the NHS app, a damning report says today.

GP practices are increasingly using digital forms to help manage demand for face-to-face appointments.

But the poorly designed sites are unable to collect the information staff need to triage patients and make a diagnosis, the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) found.

This has introduced potentially lethal delays in identifying diseases, the report adds, and damaged the doctor-patient relationship. 

Furthermore, the push towards a ‘digital-first’ NHS is deterring the elderly. Patients describe feeling ‘frustrated’, ‘humiliated’ and ‘embarrassed’ when asked to submit symptoms via online forms.

It is feared that this can lead them to downplay issues that they would have divulged in person. 

Doctors admitted that the lack of personal interaction means they may miss vital cues.

The requirement to have a computer or smartphone to access digital services means the ‘modern’ way of working promotes inequality, they added.

The HSSIB report said that while online tools can be of benefit GPs and patients, they ‘had contributed to some patient safety incidents’.

The 59-page report highlights the case of a patient who was left needing complex surgery because the use of online tools resulted in a delay diagnosing their cancer.

Nick Woodier, senior safety investigator at the HSSIB, said: ‘The future of healthcare includes technology to help deliver care but this needs to be done with recognition of risks to safety.’

There were an estimated 30.8million appointments recorded by GP booking systems in May. Of these, about 19.8million were carried out face to face, with 7.8million over the phone and 1.4million online or via video.

Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which campaigns for the over-60s, said: ‘This official safety report backs up the safety concerns we have been raising since the end of the pandemic.’

Rachel Power, the chief executive of the Patients Association, said: ‘Choice about how a patient accesses health services must be protected, including non-digital options.’

A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘Patients should be able to interact with their GP in the manner they choose, whether that’s online or in person.’