Attend Anywhere: video consulting service

The Scottish Government’s Technology Enabled Care (TEC) Programme was established in 2015, with the aim to increase the use of video conferencing (VC) technologies for health and care consultations. In late 2015, the team became aware of new product, Attend Anywhere, that uses browser-based technology to deliver a video consulting solution which greatly simplified the video consultation workflow and provided a simpler technical solution. General and specific objectives: The initial objectives of the Attend Anywhere programme were to establish a video consulting service across Scotland, providing 50 clinics across health, care and the third sector, with the aim of reducing travel, improving efficiency and supporting service change. It drew on best practice from Australia and the United States. Main methods, processes and organisation: The Attend Anywhere system provides a video clinical environment that can be accessed by a member of the public using a web browser on their own device, be it a laptop, tablet or smartphone. Attend Anywhere provides a single, consistent entry point on the service’s webpage, where patients enter an online waiting are for their appointment. Staff manage their clinics as usual. Video appointments are handled through existing processes and systems and run like any other consultation. Patients attend appointments via the clinic’s website and wait in their own private room, in the waiting area. No account, special software, or dial-in details are needed. Clinicians prepare to engage with their patients as normal, except they join patients via the clinic’s online waiting area instead of its physical one. Health Services have access to all the support, advice, and resources they need to help with adoption and use of Attend Anywhere.