Someone sneezes at 9 pm. The throat feels like sandpaper by the next morning. They call their GP, and the next available appointment at the local surgery is five days away. This is roughly the moment when most people in the UK first consider an online GP consultation, and it’s also when they realise they’ve no idea what it involves.
The phrase makes the whole thing sound futuristic. In practice, it’s a doctor on a screen, asking the same questions any other doctor would ask, just from a different chair.
How Does a Virtual Doctor Appointment Work
Most services follow a pattern that’s become reasonably standard across the UK. The patient books a slot through an app or website, completes a short medical history form, lists current medications, and provides a reason for the visit. Some platforms allow same-day bookings within minutes. Others run on scheduled appointments, like the local surgery, but without the waiting room magazines from 2017.
At the appointed time, the GP appears via video call. The consultation itself looks fairly ordinary. The doctor asks about symptoms, how long they’ve been going on, what’s been tried at home, and any relevant history. If something visible is involved, a rash or a sty or a worrying patch on the arm, the patient holds the phone closer to the camera, and the doctor takes a look.
For things that need a physical examination, like a chest properly listened to or a lump felt, the GP will usually say so and refer the patient onward. Online consultations work well for a meaningful chunk of everyday ailments. Anything requiring hands-on assessment gets passed up the chain, often with a specialist referral letter issued by the same doctor at the end of the call.
Appointments typically last between ten and twenty minutes, though some services charge by length and others by visit. Notes are written up, often shared with the patient afterwards, and any follow-up actions get triggered from there.
Can You Get Prescriptions From Online Doctors
Yes, and this surprises people who assumed prescriptions required a stamped piece of paper handed across a desk. Online GPs registered with the General Medical Council and the Care Quality Commission can issue prescriptions the same way any other NHS GP can.
The range of what can be prescribed online is wide. Asthma inhalers for repeat prescriptions, contraception, blood pressure medication, hay fever treatment, eczema creams, certain antidepressants after appropriate assessment, and treatment for UTIs after a symptom check. Some categories fall outside online prescribing, mainly controlled drugs (think strong opioids, benzodiazepines, ADHD stimulants, certain sleep medications), which require additional in-person checks and stricter governance.
One thing worth noting: cost. NHS prescriptions follow NHS pricing, whether issued by a local GP or an online one operating within the NHS framework. Private online consultations issue private prescriptions, which means paying the full pharmacy price for the medication. Sometimes that’s cheaper than the NHS charge for a single item; sometimes considerably more. A box of cetirizine is a different conversation from a private prescription for a specialist inflammatory drug.
Can Online Doctors Prescribe Antibiotics
This is the question that comes up more than any other. The short answer is yes, when the clinical picture warrants it. The longer answer involves a fair amount of nuance, because antibiotics have become a subject of careful consideration in UK general practice.
Antimicrobial resistance is a genuine concern, and online services that hand out amoxicillin to anyone who mentions a sore throat are doing a disservice to both patients and the wider population. The good ones don’t. A GP working remotely will ask the same questions any GP would ask in person: how long have the symptoms been present, what colour is the mucus or discharge, is there a fever, and are there red-flag signs that suggest something more serious?
For suspected bacterial infections where antibiotics are clearly indicated, a prescription is issued. For viral infections where antibiotics would be of no use, the patient is told so, sometimes more bluntly than they’d prefer.
UTIs are a clean example. A woman with classic symptoms of a lower urinary tract infection can often have antibiotics prescribed after a thorough symptom assessment, sometimes with a urine dip requested beforehand. Strep throat is another case, though a swab is sometimes required first. Skin infections, dental abscesses (until a dentist can be seen), and some chest infections in otherwise well adults: all within scope when the assessment supports it.
What an online GP won’t do is prescribe antibiotics speculatively, or to someone who’s already finished a course and wants more just in case, or for a child’s mild cough without a proper assessment. Anyone offering otherwise is probably worth avoiding.
A Few Practical Things Patients Learn the Hard Way
Booking the right type of appointment matters. Most platforms distinguish between general consultations, repeat prescription reviews, mental health appointments, and travel health advice.
At Hola Health, we run our service with GMC-registered, NHS-trained GPs available every day between 8 am and 6 pm. Anyone curious to try it can book a consultation here and have a doctor on the screen, usually within minutes.