Advert for GP access smartphone app banned by watchdog

[helvella]

Just to point out that signing up to Babylon's GP at Hand first had to deregister from their existing family doctor. What might appear an attractive option could have longer term impacts.

Please avoid political comments - that is not the purpose of this post. Nor this forum.

Advert for GP access smartphone app banned by watchdog

GP at Hand failed to make it clear patients would be deregistered from current practice

A watchdog has banned adverts for a smartphone app that promises to let patients “see an NHS GP in minutes for free”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has told the private health firm Babylon Health not to advertise its GP at Hand service, which has been endorsed by the health secretary, until it corrects factual errors used in its promotion.

It criticised Babylon for not making clear in the adverts that patients signing up to GP at Hand first had to deregister from their existing family doctor, a move that GP leaders warned would prove damaging.

Rest of article here:

theguardian.com/society/201...

[shaws Administrator]

How awful that the person would be unaware they'd be removed from GPs list.

Thanks for posting.

Some adverts seem to draw us in by their publicity but the actual facts/results of doing so aren't displayed.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to shaws]

Many adverts do that - they just gabble the T&Cs in a pretend "humorous" manner as though they don't matter, or put them in tiny writing at the bottom of the screen that no one over 40 is ever going to be able to read.

[Zephyrbear in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Another obvious candidate for that 'trick' are all these bloody awful 'Over 50 Plans' that guarantee you a cash payment to help with funeral costs that never will pay out more than you've paid in and, in most cases, pay out a whole lot less than you've paid in... My mother signed up to one of these scams and it turns out that, over the 20 years she had the plan, she'd paid them approximately 3x what we eventually received back... The notification is so difficult to read at the bottom of the screen and stays up for literally seconds, so the only way you can get all of this info is by freezing the screen and getting the time to read it!

[Angel_of_the_North]

It says in the article that it is just London and doesn't mention TV ads, but I've seen an ad on TV in my area, which didn't mention London.

[shaws Administrator in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

They probably want to cover the whole country - eventually or even quicker. Maybe it is a good way to get rid of troublesome patients

[TSH110 in reply to shaws]

Pity we could not set up similar with a GP sympathetic to and knowledgable about thyroid disorder guaranteed at the end of the line - now there’s a thought. Perhaps a bit of damage is what’s needed to change things for the better in our case.