@article {Johnston493, author = {Sophie Johnston and Margaret MacDougall and Brian McKinstry}, title = {The use of video consulting in general practice: semi-structured interviews examining acceptability to patients}, volume = {23}, number = {2}, pages = {493--500}, year = {2016}, doi = {10.14236/jhi.v23i2.141}, publisher = {BMJ Specialist Journals}, abstract = {Background and Objective To increase patient access to healthcare, the U.K. Government has encouraged new technology-based approaches including telephone consulting, email-consulting, short message service messaging and video consulting over the Internet. However, little is known about patient acceptance of video consulting as a consulting method. We aimed to explore primary care patients{\textquoteright} views on the possible utility of video consulting.Method and Results We used semi-structured interviews to survey 270 patients in Lothian. Three diverse general practices were purposively chosen. Sequential patients attending the practice at different times of day were invited to participate. Patients were asked to indicate their level of computer proficiency and provide their views on the use of video consulting and what specific applications it might have. We found that 50\% (95\% Confidence Interval (CI) 43.9\%{\textendash}56.1\%) of patients would use video consulting. Patients under 60 years were over two times more likely to use it (Odds Ratio (OR) 2.2, 95\% CI 2.1{\textendash}6.6) and evidence of a positive trend between increasing computer proficiency and those who would video consult was found (χ2 = 43.97, p \< 0.0005, n = 270). Patients who had used commercial video services (such as Skype) were approximately six times more likely to favour video consulting than those who had not (OR 5.9, 95\% CI 3.5{\textendash}9.9).Conclusions This suggests strong patient interest in video consulting in primary care. However, it is possible that in the short to medium terms, there may be access inequality favouring younger and more technically able people. Further studies are needed to determine the content, safety, efficacy and cost effectiveness of employing this medium.What this study adds:Novel evidence is provided for patient acceptance of video consulting as an alternative consulting technology.Accepting patients belonged to a specific subgroup that were younger, more computer proficient and had used commercial video services before.Patients identified video consulting as useful for minor illness and general advice, highlighting that it could save their time.Video consulting was viewed as inappropriate for consultations where an examination is required and concern was expressed for it being less personal.}, URL = {https://informatics.bmj.com/content/23/2/493}, eprint = {https://informatics.bmj.com/content/23/2/493.full.pdf}, journal = {BMJ Health \& Care Informatics} }