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NHS patients should access GP services digitally with "immediate effect" because of the coronavirus outbreak, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
Following a warning that
"many thousands of people" in the country
will contract coronavirus
, Mr Hancock revealed the NHS is ramping up efforts for Britons to access medical services from home.
Mr Hancock told the House of Commons: "We're taking steps, of course, to improve access by making sure people can access primary care in the best possible way.
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"I can be clear to the House today that we will take a digital-first approach to accessing primary care and outpatient appointments.
"So that wherever clinically and practically possible, people can access and should access primary care through phones and digital means.
"This is especially important in the current coronavirus outbreak.
"Already there is a rollout that's started, but we will make this across the country with immediate effect."
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In new efforts to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, it was also revealed:
-
The government has reserved a hotel by Heathrow airport for foreign nationals arriving in the UK to self-isolate
-
Two-thirds of PPE (personal protective equipment) has been rolled out into GP surgeries, with the rest arriving "imminently"
-
Ministers are looking at lifting "all appropriate bureaucracy" requirements - such as appraisals - from GPs to free up their time
-
Former staff from the Department for Exiting the EU, which was shut down in January, who had been working on no-deal Brexit contingency planning are now working on the coronavirus response
Mr Hancock vowed to ensure care staff have PPE amid the coronavirus outbreak, after being told some have reported having to buy their own gloves.
Labour's shadow health minister Barbara Keeley also claimed one care provider "had their order of protective equipment requisitioned by the NHS".
Mr Hancock replied: "The work to make sure that protective equipment is available extends to social care staff.
"Most social care is provided through private businesses and therefore it's a different delivery model.
"But it doesn't make it any less important, and I'm very happy for her and the minister for care to have a meeting to make sure we can listen to the concerns that she's heard because we want to address them."
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Mr Hancock later said all contingency plans for the social care system on the reasonable worst-case scenario require being able to operate with a 20% reduction in workforce.
With some Britons facing the possibility of having to self-isolate due to coronavirus, the health secretary was also asked about whether the government would increase access to sick pay.
Mr Hancock vowed that "whatever the status of people working across the economy" - including those who are self-employed - they "will get the support that means they are not penalised for doing the right thing".
Speaking to Kay Burley@Breakfast, the UK's deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries had said: "We will have significant numbers in a way which I think the country is not used to. So, large numbers of the population will become infected [with
coronavirus
] but because it's a naive population, nobody has got antibodies to this virus currently.
"Having said that, 99% of those will almost certainly get better and most people will have a really quite mild disease and will not need to be in hospital. [They] can be managed very safely and appropriately at home.
"The important thing for us is to make sure that we manage those infections and make sure that those individuals who are most affected - our elderly people, particularly those with chronic underlying conditions - get in touch and get treatment, and that we support other people in the home environment."
