Consortia decisions could be voted on via mobiles

The electronic voting service is being aimed at commissioning consortia amid concerns that member practices may lack time to meet face to face.

The package, being offered to GPs by PlannedCare Solutions, would allow real time voting similar to that used on television talent shows.

PlannedCare Solutions director Ray Jordan said: “If you think about voting on programmes like The X Factor and other things on TV, we can build on that kind of process.”

He said GPs have expressed an interest in the software, although none have yet purchased the system.

Dr Stan Shepherd, a partner at Globe Town Surgery in Tower Hamlets, London, said in the past GPs had been “very isolated”. He said the software was necessary to make GPs engage with the “fundamental service redesign”.

“It is absolutely critical that early on the consortium has the opportunity to have their voice heard in that service redesign,” he said. “It is no good to have informal meetings in the evenings where only half of the GPs can get there.”