Remote Consultations and Online Prescribing

This remote consultation training covers telephone, video, online forms and messaging, and the prescribing decisions that follow them. It is for any UK professional who consults or prescribes remotely, whether in an NHS practice running total triage, an out-of-hours service or an independent online clinic.

The standard of care does not change because the patient is not in the room, but the risks do: missed signs, unreliable questionnaire answers, hidden coercion, fragmented records and commercial pressure. The course works through each of them and shows what to do instead, with useful phrases such as "I'm not able to assess this safely over the phone, so I'd like you to be seen in person today."

It is designed to take approximately 2 hours, including reflection and a 15-question assessment, and is self-paced. It reflects the GPhC's February 2025 guidance for pharmacies providing services at a distance. Healthcare Practise UK is an independent provider and is not affiliated with any regulator, the CQC or the NHS.

In 2019 the UK healthcare regulators, with system regulators and professional bodies, agreed the High level principles for good practice in remote consultations and prescribing. They remain the shared reference point, and the course sets each principle against everyday practice.

It also covers capacity and consent law in each nation, UK GDPR, and which system regulator registers remote services: the CQC in England, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the RQIA in Northern Ireland.

1. Remote care: principles and regulation. Forms of remote care including asynchronous consultations and total triage, benefits and risks, the shared regulators' principles, and who regulates professionals and services.
2. Deciding whether remote care is appropriate. Assessing suitability, choosing telephone, video or online methods, patient preference and digital exclusion, and converting to face-to-face care, including when a patient keeps calling about the same problem.
3. Conducting a safe remote consultation. Identity, location, privacy and consent checks; history and examination at a distance; images and why intimate images should not be requested unless clinically necessary with no reasonable alternative; safety-netting and records that state what you could not assess.
4. Prescribing at a distance. The legal and professional framework, adequate knowledge of the patient, higher-risk medicines (antimicrobials, medicines liable to misuse, those needing monitoring, weight-management and cosmetic medicines), and online pharmacy and prescribing services.
5. Safeguarding, capacity and consent at a distance. Recognising vulnerability you cannot see, children and young people including Gillick competence and Scottish law, safe questions when coercion or domestic abuse is possible, and assessing capacity by phone.
6. Governance, data and working for online providers. Approved platforms and DPIAs, checks before you work for a commercial provider, cross-border practice, audit, incident reporting and the Yellow Card scheme.

Reflection points and "apply it" tasks run through the course. The closing reflective account asks what you learned about the risks and safeguards of remote care, how you will decide when to convert to face-to-face care, and what you will change in your remote consultations or prescribing.

The 15 scenario questions include a weight-loss injection request where the patient refuses GP contact, a parent emailing a photo of a child's genital rash, a woman whose answers are prompted by a man's voice, and an online service asking a GP to approve prescriptions within two minutes each. The pass mark is 12 (80%), and you can retake after revisiting the linked sections. You receive a certificate of completion from Healthcare Practise UK.

Record the time you actually spend as CPD and keep the certificate with your reflection. Employers and online providers may set their own induction requirements, so check those separately.

Before taking on remote or online work. Module 6 gives a checklist of what to confirm with a provider first, from system-regulator registration to indemnity and escalation routes.

Team induction. Practices moving to total triage and online clinics onboarding sessional prescribers use it as a shared baseline; see training for organisations.

After a prescribing concern. Where a complaint or investigation involves remote prescribing, the course can form part of targeted learning alongside Prescribing Guidance and Standards. Our prescribing remediation page explains how to combine courses with reflection and practical changes. Courses alone do not show insight; panels make their own decisions.

• Medicines Safety and Medication Error Prevention, for error-prone steps in prescribing and supply;
• Learning from Patient Safety Incidents, for reporting and learning when remote care goes wrong;
• Domestic Abuse and Coercive Control Awareness, for recognising and responding to abuse;
• Information Governance and Data Security, for platforms, messaging and records.

Explore our patient safety courses, browse the catalogue, or use the which course do I need tool.