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Group consultations are a relatively new concept in primary care, but one GP has taken this a step further and in the wake of the pandemic, has introduced digital group consultations at her practice. Dr Jess Hollingsworth of Linthorpe Surgery in Middlesbrough, in partnership with podcast favourite Nick Sharples of DNA Insight, saw that there was a need to better support patients recovering from Covid. Together, they decided that giving patients access to an online consultation, in the company of other individuals also struggling with the long term impact of the virus, might offer some much needed insight into its effects, whilst giving them a safe route of access to an individual consultation and to a potential network of support going forwards. Here, they talk to Ben about how the idea came about, the preparation that is required, how the consultation works in practice and what the impact has been overall on the patients that have taken part.

Introductions (0:34)

Making the transition to virtual group consultations (0:29)

The definition of a digital group consultation and its structure (1:29)

Timings and patient consult allocation (2:25)

Which patient group/s were targeted and why? (2:53)

What preparation is required? (3:21)

The role of the facilitator (4:07)

Governance and consent (4:46)

Recommended group size and numbers (5:56)

A group consultation in practice (7:21)

After care (8:26)

How social prescribing link workers can help (9:40)

Patient feedback (10:30)

Reflections from a practice perspective (11:40)

Technical challenges (12:34)

Which online platform works best and why? (13:19)

Lessons learned (14:36)

Advice from Nick for practices who are in setting up a digital group consultation (15:43)

The Personalised Care Institute and the support and training on offer (17:12)

Where can I find out more about virtual group consultations? (18:28)

Further support for patients recovering from Covid-19 (19:14)

A link to the case study on Linthorpe Surgery’s digital group consultation pilot (which Nick references) can be found here