One of the big policy debates for general practice next year will be the long-term plans for telehealth funding — one of the belated technology revolutions facing the specialty.

Aside from the funding, there’s still a heated debate on telehealth’s clinical utility and appropriateness.

As part of a special issue in BJGP Open, Australian researchers have taken a series of looks at the consults and how they differ from GPs’ face-to-face work.

They found that fewer telehealth consultations in NSW and Victoria between April and December 2020 ended with a script being printed (metaphorically speaking — presumably many were e-scripts) than in face-to-face consultations.