Are GPs Really Needed? By Mrs Vera West

During the Covid freak-out we learnt to live without GPs. I experienced having to have phone consultations as the doctors were to scared to attend the usual clinics, I suppose, even with their N95 face masks. But, with rapid advances in AI, while I am well-aware of the strong negative effects, perhaps one positive would be that we will be able to consult Dr AI. Given most GPs I have seen, moving to a robot will be a vast improvement. Sure, the algorithms will be geared to support Big Pharma, but flesh and blood doctors are no different; perhaps worse, being open to little “gifts” as well. And, given the Medicare situation, where it is necessary to make a full prior payment before Medicare does its reimbursement (too bad if you need medical attention, but don’t have the money in the account), it may actually improve medical services. It could not be worse.

https://nakedemperor.substack.com/p/study-comparing-physician-and-ai

“Two things have happened in the last few years which make it appropriate to question the role of the physician in the future. Firstly, many General Practitioners (GPs) went AWOL. Getting an appointment with many GPs was nigh on impossible and if you were fortunate to be able to wait for two hours and then charm the receptionist on the end of the phone, it was still unlikely that you would actually see a doctor face-to-face.

Secondly, AI is getting exponentially more sophisticated. Chatbots such as ChatGPT show the potential for AI to assist humans with many tasks in the future. With virtually the whole internet at its disposal, AI could assess patients symptoms and provide them with the most likely diagnosis.

We get daily reminders in the news about how the GP system is about to break down. How GPs have too many patients and too much admin. Whilst at the same time, more patients are being denied the care they need.

Whilst I have no doubt that a human GP will always be necessary to oversee things, why could AI not take over the rest of the surgery? After all, much of what a GP does is admin, initial diagnoses, prescriptions and referrals to specialists - all perfect jobs for AI.

But perhaps AI would be too impersonal and not as empathetic? We moan that we don’t get to see doctors face-to-face anymore so why would we accept a machine?