Patients back blood test results e-mail

Published Date: 21 December 2009

A MAJORITY of patients would prefer to receive results of blood tests by e-mail rather than having to make an appointment with a GP, according to a study conducted in two Lothian practices.

Researchers interviewed 200 patients, and 53 per cent said they preferred practices to send their test results by e-mail.

Just 38 per cent said they wanted to be contacted by text message, though, and their reticence was chiefly put down to concerns over information security.

James Grayston, lead author and a medical student at the University of Edinburgh, said informing patients of results took up a ‘considerable proportion’ of practice-staff time.

Read the full report about results of tests by e-mail