HEALTH experts are to investigate whether replacing face-to-face GP visits with telephone of email consultations would bring benefits for patients and doctors.

The two-year study will look at the advantages and disadvantages of using phones, emails and texts to provide healthcare.

Researchers from the universities of Edinburgh, Bristol, Oxford and Exeter will speak to doctors and patients from GP practices that use or have used alternatives to in-person appointments.

Conducting medical consultations by phone or internet could save time for patients by reducing the need to travel to doctors' surgeries, and would primarily be used for following up conditions that do not need a physical examination.

However, the healthcare system has been slow to adopt alternatives to face-to-face consultations amid concern from GPs that other forms of contact may increase their workload. There are also fears a loss of face-to-face contact may change the nature of the doctor-patient relationship and cause other disadvantages.

Professor Brian McKinstry, of Edinburgh University, said: "We're trying to understand whether expanding the use of mobile and internet technologies can help to reduce GP workload and bring benefits to patients. Our findings could transform the way we interact with our family doctors."

Lead researcher Professor Chris Salisbury, of Bristol's Centre for Academic Primary Care, said: "We hope to learn how practices have overcome the potential problems [and] the benefits they have found."