Can telemedicine be used to improve communication between primary and secondary care?

Objective-To test feasibility and acceptability of teleconferencing routine outpatient consultations. Design-Exploratory trial of teleconferenced outpatient referrals of general practitioners. Setting-An inner city teaching hospital and surrounding general practices. Subjects-Six general practices linked to hospital outpatient clinics. Main outcome measures-Levels of participants' satisfaction measured with self administered questionnaires. Results-54 teleconsultations were performed in 10 different specialties. Few serious technical problems were encountered, and high levels of satisfaction with the consultations were reported by patients, hospital specialists, and general practitioners. Conclusions-Teleconferenced consultations for routine outpatient referrals with joint participation of general practitioner were feasible. These may have an important potential benefit for improving communication between primary and secondary care.