VIRTUAL GP consultations using a smart phone app, are helping cut patients’ waiting times at two Leigh practices.

Highlands Surgery, in London Road, and Eastwood GP, which has three surgeries in the town, are offering patients online video consultations with GPs, using an app called Babylon.

The system means a doctor will usually call them back within the hour, for a face-to-face consultation, using a video link similar to Skype.

Dr Paul Husselbee from the Hylands Surgery, said: “Feedback from it has been very good. One patient told us he had a consultation with a doctor while he was away in France.

“Since its launch, waiting times for routine appointments have gone down from three to two weeks.

“We have many, many people coming in to us who are elderly and with a lot of complex problems and we are always incredibly busy.

“The app means people can get a consultation with a doctor very quickly and conveniently, giving us more time to see the patients with more complex needs.”

Babylon doctors are all approved by the NHS, and can diagnose patients, refer them to hospital, or to a GP at a surgery, and prescribe them medicine.

They can even send prescription orders to pharmacies close to London Fenchurch Street station, which can be collected by patients commuting on the c2c rail line.

The aim of is to reduce the number of people coming into GP surgeries, as part of a wider NHS push to gets councils, hospitals, and GPs working together more closely to ease the pressure on hospitals.

Dr Husselbee said it was too early to say if the app could reduce the pressure on A&E departments, but initial signs were positive.

One patient in ten at the two surgeries has now signed up to the Babylon trial, which will run for two years.

Daryl Bowman, Babylon’s chief marketing officer, said: “If you are a patient at either surgery, you can get a special code for the app.

“You then go on to the app, and you can speak to a doctor within the hour.

“It’s amazing how much they can diagnose with the app, simply by speaking to you on a video call and by asking you questions.

“We have been commissioned by the NHS to see if this approach can cut down on the strain on doctors and hospitals.”