EVERY DOCTOR Should Read This Before Starting Teleconsultations
Teleconsultation can make good care more accessible, but it is not simply a video call with a payment link. The professional, ethical and documentation duties still apply. Rules and interpretations can change, so use this as a practical starting checklist and have your process reviewed against the latest applicable NMC, State Medical Council, telemedicine and privacy requirements.
Many doctors are trying to build an online practice while their non-medical social-media or website team may not know where promotion ends and solicitation begins. You do not need to hide your expertise or stop educating people. You do need a patient journey designed around transparency, consent and clinical safety.
Start with the risk you can control
Under the professional-conduct rules, direct or indirect solicitation of patients and publicity that invites attention to a doctor’s professional position can create risk. A complaint can lead to an enquiry; do not assume that because enforcement appears uncommon, a practice is automatically safe.
How can Instagram reach become a patient journey?
Do not build the funnel around aggressive promotion. Publish genuinely educational, general content, give viewers a useful resource, and make the next step optional and clear. If you need a compliant, transparent way to explain your services, we can build an Online OPD for you.
Need an Online OPD built for your practice?
Give patients clear information about your consultation format, fees, availability, consent and next steps in one patient-friendly place.
Explore Online OPDDo not run paid ads for your teleconsultation practice
Paid promotion of your professional services can look like direct or indirect solicitation, especially when it is designed to procure patients. Do not pay a third party to push your face, credentials or teleconsultation offer to more people. Organic education and public-health information are different from boosting a Reel to generate bookings; get current professional advice before spending on promotion.
Use ContentMate for safer content planning
If you need help with scripts, use ContentMate to turn clinical knowledge into useful, educational scripts. Review every script yourself, remove individualised diagnosis or promises, and make sure the final post does not become a disguised solicitation.
Teleconsultation checklist
1. Keep records for at least seven years
Maintain complete teleconsultation records—including identity, consent, history, advice, prescriptions, referrals, communications and follow-up—securely and in a retrievable format. The older professional-conduct regulation expressly refers to a three-year record period for indoor patients; seven years is a conservative operational best practice for teleconsultation records, subject to any longer applicable law or insurer requirement.
2. Prescribe within the telemedicine framework
Use only medicines permitted for the consultation category and follow the applicable List O, List A and List B restrictions. List B is for follow-up situations where the patient has been seen in person for the relevant condition within the permitted period; do not treat it as a shortcut for a first remote consultation. When in doubt, examine in person or refer.
3. Confirm age and guardian status
Confirm the age and identity of the consultee at the beginning. Do not conduct a consultation for a person below 18 without a verified parent or guardian participating as required by the applicable telemedicine guidance.
4. Take informed consent
Have the patient (or authorised guardian) accept terms and conditions that explain the limits of teleconsultation, privacy considerations, what happens if the call fails, when in-person care is required, and that the patient has not been pressured or solicited into the consultation. Record the consent.
5. Keep a fair route to in-person care visible
Alongside your Online OPD, provide a visible but neutral route such as “Find another doctor near you” or “Look for in-person care near you.” Patients should not feel trapped into booking with you, and emergency or unsuitable cases should be directed to appropriate local care.
If your current website does not explain these things, do not worry—we can help you set up your own Online OPD with a clearer patient journey.
Other things that you should not do as a doctor who posts online and wants to convert their reach to paying patients—check out this blog.
Resources
- Name and qualification disclosure guidance
- ASCI influencer guidelines for health and finance
- Social-media guidance summary
- Professional Conduct Regulations, including Reg. 6.1
- Telemedicine Practice Guidelines (§§1.3.3 and 3.3)
- TSI update on the course timeline · TSI course
- NMC telemedicine FAQ
- Telemedicine FAQ on minors · Consent and age discussion
- Telemedicine prescribing lists overview · List B follow-up discussion
- Medical-record retention reference · Retention best-practice discussion
- Telemedicine guidelines analysis
- Health-content disclaimer discussion · Disclosure and disclaimer discussion
This article is general educational information, not legal, regulatory or medical advice. Verify the current rules that apply to your registration, state, specialty and service model before launching teleconsultations.