Elderly residents without internet access risk being left behind by GP online triage systems, a Southend councillor has warned.
The issue was highlighted by Southend councillors during Tuesday's Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting as members discussed an NHS Essex Integrated Care Board report.
The report identified phone access, practice websites, the NHS App and waiting times as areas requiring improvement in Southend.
Committee vice-chair, Reform councillor Frankie Bird questioned how the system worked for older residents who may not have internet access.
He said: “How does this work for an elderly resident who has had to travel to a surgery, feeling unwell and then they have to go back home and then go back later in the day or the next day to get an appointment?
"They might not even be online.”
Will Guy, director of primary care, said some face-to-face contact remained necessary, particularly when patients first registered with a practice.
He said: “Often when patients are interacting with the new systems for the first time it does require you to attend a surgery to get fully registered onto the online system, or at least make contact with the surgery to enable that to happen.
"It should then, in theory, be more straightforward.
“But the issue around people’s access to digital solutions we do take very seriously and practices should, alongside the online appointment request or advice request solution, have something that mirrors that on the telephone.
"If somebody attends in person, it should all go through the same process.”
Mr Guy acknowledged there were shortcomings in total triage systems.
He said: “Unfortunately that is the flaw with total triage. You are effectively making a request that is then looked at and reviewed by a GP or another senior clinician, and you will get contacted later in the day.
“What it does mean is there is a clinically led approach to who gets appointments.
"We will continue to push solutions for people who do not have access to digital services.”
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