When a GP heard a 16-year-old girl’s symptoms of lethargy, fever and poor oral intake during a telehealth appointment, he thought it was likely glandular fever.

So they spoke to the patient’s older sister, advising rest, but the teenager later died of sepsis in a hospital ED. 

The case was highlighted in a UK study on how to make telehealth triage and appointments safer.

The authors stressed that such sentinel events were rare but that, with telehealth now here to stay, serious near misses required detailed examination.