All general practices need to have the ability to carry out video consultations between patients and clinicians.

Advice from the NHSX Information Governance team is that it's fine to use video conferencing tools such as Skype, WhatsApp and Facetime as well as commercial products designed specifically for this purpose, particularly as a short-term measure.

The following systems have been assured and comply with the high standards set in the GP IT Futures framework. 

Commissioners and practices will soon be able to select from participating parties on this list via the Digital Care Services Framework (GPIT Futures) with charges centrally funded. We expect the first participating suppliers to be available under contract from Monday 23 March 2020.

CCGs will also have an option to receive a solution procured via the NHS England Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS).

Commissioners or practices that are accessing solutions through either the Digital Care Services Framework (GPIT Futures) or the NHS England DPS can be confident that these products are appropriate for use in general practice.

These solutions will be funded centrally and as such are made available free of charge to GP practices. In addition, there is no tie into the solution selected now and commissioners are able to then change if appropriate.

To purchase a service if you are a GP practice, CCG, PCN or federation

1. Understand your video consultation requirements by practice and any relevant technical constraints.
2. Select a solution from the available options.
3. Contact the supplier directly to confirm your requirements including a list of practices to receive the service and arrange implementation. In some cases the software is self-serve and the supplier can advise you how to do that.
4. The supplier will implement the solution and report back to NHS Digital on your behalf to confirm service go-live and that the service is stable. Where the software is self-serve the supplier will report to GP IT Futures when the volume of consultations has exceeded the threshold of 10, this is deemed to be equivalent to you accepting the service.
5. If you wish to add or remove practices from receiving the service, you can arrange this with the supplier directly.
6. You can raise any serious performance problems with the supplier in the first instance, and report to gpitfutures@nhs.net where the supplier has not addressed such problems.
7. Contact the GP IT Futures team for further information.