Dr Greg Battle, Whittington Health's executive medical director for integrated care

Patients could soon be seeing their hospital consultants by Skype, phone or e-mail if The Whittington Hospital succeeds in treating more and more people at home.

Doctors could carry out consultations via Skype under the Whittington Hospital's plans. Picture: PA/Peter Byrne

The hospital, which plans to cut costs by reducing beds and moving care into the community, insisted many patients would be able to receive just as good care by speaking to their doctor over the computer or on the phone.

Dr Greg Battle, Whittington Health’s executive medical director for integrated care, and a GP at the Goodinge Health Centre in North Road, Holloway, said: “Caring for people at home is not about me as a GP caring for them. I have plenty to do.

“We want to see consultants visit them in person or see them by phone or tele-conference.

“More and more people are happy to be contacted in a variety of ways. We are planning that doctors will use a combination of telephone, e-mail, Skype and visiting.”

Although Dr Battle accepted that the vast majority of at-home patients would be elderly, who may not be familiar with computers, he insisted that mobile phone penetration was quite high. He also said nurses would visit patients daily and that doctors would also be encouraged to go out on calls.

The news was greeted with horror by the Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition, which organised the protest march of 5,000 people against hospital chiefs plans on Saturday.

Chairman Shirley Franklin said patients still needed “human contact”, “especially if people are traumatised by illness or operations”.

There are also concerns the hospital will not be able to care for people adequately at home if they are also cutting hundreds of staff, a worry that Dr Battle accepted was a “very good challenge”.

“I would hope that we would avoid a reduction in community staff”, he said. “There are about 1,500 community-based staff. There is a chance of that number going up.”

The Whittington Hospital, which needs to save five per cent of its £270 million budget a year in order to cope with the triple whammy of government cuts, increasing patient numbers and rising treatment costs, is having a massive drive to treat more patients at home – believing this will enable it to cut 60 beds and 570 staff.

Dr Battle, who vehemently insisted the hospital would not sacrifice quality to cost, added: “I see 100 patients a week minimum in my business of 20 years.

“A lot of patients do not want to go to hospital if their care can be managed at home safely.

“Thirty per cent of elderly people who stay in hospital for more than a week lose one of their activities of daily living.”