{"id":346012,"date":"2026-03-24T22:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T22:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/346012\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T22:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T22:38:07","slug":"over-half-of-nhs-doctors-want-to-work-from-home-in-online-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/346012\/","title":{"rendered":"Over half of NHS doctors want to work from home in \u2018online hospital\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than half of NHS consultants have said they want to work for a new \u201conline hospital\u201d that will allow them to video-call patients from home.<\/p>\n

The government is launching NHS Online, a virtual hospital that will treat millions of patients by matching patients with specialist doctors for remote consultations.<\/p>\n

In an NHS survey of 303 senior doctors, 60 per cent said they would be interested in working for the online service, alongside their existing roles, when it starts next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ANHS Online will match specialist doctors with patients for remote consultationsEkaterina Goncharova\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The opportunity to work flexibly was cited by 86 per cent of doctors as a motivating factor in why they wanted to offer time to the NHS online hospital. Many cited the \u201cability to work from home, avoid commuting and manage family commitments\u201d.<\/p>\n

The online hospital aims to carry out 8.5 million appointments in its first three years, four times more than the average NHS Trust. It will initially focus on treatment for 11 common health conditions<\/a> including anaemia, inflammatory bowel disease, menopause, endometriosis, prostate enlargement, and glaucoma.<\/p>\n

Patients will be referred to NHS Online by their GPs, but will still be able to choose in-person hospital appointments if they prefer. They will have tests, scans or procedures at clinics close to home, but doctors will review their results remotely and carry out appointments over video or phone.<\/p>\n

Most doctors plan to work for the online hospital four to eight hours per week, combining it with their existing NHS roles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Professor Stella Vig, the clinical director for elective care at NHS England, said: \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to see that consultants and specialist doctors are hugely supportive of the NHS\u2019s new online hospital, with nearly two thirds willing to offer their time for this revolutionary service alongside their current roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cNHS Online will transform the way we deliver planned care, offering patients the choice to have an online appointment with a specialist anywhere in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe service will make a real difference to patients\u2019 lives as they\u2019ll be able to choose to use NHS Online and be seen more quickly and conveniently, with many appointments delivered by video or telephone in their own home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also expanded the list of conditions which NHS Online will treat, so that even more patients will be able to benefit when the service launches next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans for the virtual hospital were announced in September by Sir Keir Starmer<\/a>, who said it would help reduce NHS waiting lists, which currently stand at about 7 million. The scheme is also designed to end a postcode lottery in care, by ensuring that patients can see the best specialist wherever they live.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zubir Ahmed, a health minister, said: \u201cPatients shouldn\u2019t have to wait months or travel miles to get the care they need. By turbocharging the NHS with the latest technology, NHS Online will let people see specialist doctors faster \u2014 from the comfort of their own home.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day matters when you\u2019re waiting for treatment. This is about using the power of tech to get people diagnosed, treated and back living their lives faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud to be cutting waiting times by embracing innovation. It makes the NHS<\/a> work around patients and also offers new flexible ways of working for staff, all while keeping face-to-face care there for those who need it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than half of NHS consultants have said they want to work for a new \u201conline hospital\u201d that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-346012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}