Tim Kelsey, NHS England’s National Director for Patients and Information, has today spoken about how a new, forward-thinking style of leadership is liberating patients and staff.

In an article for Guardian Society online, he writes about a recent visit to the Hurley Group GP health centre based in the heart of London’s Olympic village which he describes as “offering some of the most challenged communities a new standard of personalised care.”

He explains how Dr Arvind Madan and his colleagues have developed an innovative approach allow patients to “consult their own GP from home or work using an online tool that captures a safe, structured history which the GP can use to triage remotely.”

Tim Kelsey says feedback on the new system is dramatic with 24,000 patients having used it in the first six months and 78 per cent saying it had saved them time. This included hundreds of patients opting to consult online rather than visiting their GP.

He adds: “There is evidence that it also saves GPs time and actually improves the safety of their diagnosis, just because of the systematic nature of the patient questionnaires, which have now been developed for more than 100 conditions.”

• To read the full article see The Guardian newspaper online