Government proposals mean you email your GP - Mirror.co.uk

PATIENTS will have to examine themselves and email the results to their GP, new government proposals said yesterday.

Doctors would receive a short message from the patient describing their symptoms and answer in between appointments or at the end of the day.

The Department of Health proposals would mean patients with long-term conditions such as lung disease or diabetes being requested to measure their own temperature, blood pressure and glucose levels and emailing them to the surgery.

The British Medical Association warned standards of care will be jeopardised and doctors will be forced to spend too much time answering emails instead of seeing patients.

Ministers claim they are hoping to cut "unnecessary" appointments and make savings of £1billion-a-year while still allowing doctors to give attention to the most seriously ill.