Seeing a doctor face to face at your local GP's surgery could soon become a thing of the past under NHS plans to allow GPs to treat patients 'from the beach' anywhere in the world.
In a total reversal of the usual in-person consultation at your local GP, the NHS is allowing existing doctors to treat patients during a video chat over a phone or computer.
And GPs are already doing just that, working virtually from countries such as Australia, India and Malaysia following the launch of an NHS pilot scheme.
The company running it boasts it is 'solving the NHS workforce crisis'.
It is all part of the NHS's 10-year plan to 'free up' GPs while training new ones to support surgeries in Britain to 'increase productivity'.
It means they can leave the country and effectively work from anywhere.
Meanwhile the NHS is recruiting and training overseas doctors to treat UK patients in the same way and even offering tutors to train them up in English language skills to help them deal with consultations.
Its pilot with Asterix Health advertises itself to doctors worldwide promising NHS jobs 'without having to relocate'.
But critics have slammed the plans as no more than 'offshoring people's health to call centres abroad' and said patients should not be treated by GPs 'thousands of miles away'.
Chairman of the British Medical Association's GP Committee Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer said there were hundreds of 'home-grown GPs actively seeking NHS work' in the UK.
'We have advised the Government how they can use existing funds to secure the GPs we have here right now in this country to see patients, face to face,' she told today's Telegraph.
The pilot scheme claims most of its doctors are 'ex-UK GPs' and trades on retaining UK-trained doctors 'who will have otherwise left the work-force entirely'.
Asterix Health says it is the only company approved to employ doctors remotely from abroad on behalf of the NHS.
It is currently hunting for 'a remote NHS GP', based in Malaysia, with the listing strapline 'Work for the UK NHS without leaving Malaysia'. Applicants are told they can work remotely or from an office in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
The responsibilities for the successful candidate are listed in the job description as triaging patients, reviewing lab results and letters, and conducting phone consultations.
In a case study on the firm's website, candidates are seduced with the story and lifestyle of Dr Zilal Kamel who says the remote working setup had been 'perfect' for her family life, adding that she had been able to do clinical work with UK patients from Kuala Lumpur in the morning and be 'home in time for dinner with my family'.
Criticising the plans, Shadow Home Secretary Stuart Andrew said: 'The whole idea of a GP is built around continuity and knowing your community, not being thousands of miles away.'
'While technology can help improve access, outsourcing care overseas risks turning general practice into a remote call centre model which could undermine trust between patient and the doctor as well as the quality of patient care.'
But Asterix's Chief Executive Julian Titz defended the scheme saying it offered 'a real solution that enables under-pressure practices to get additional support from professional, highly qualified doctors for clinical tasks'.
He said: 'We're solving the workforce crisis in a way that's been approved by regulators, meets the needs of patients, and helps support the NHS.'
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'We've recruited 3,000 GPs in the past year, given primary care a £1.1bn boost, and rolled out online GP booking requests to ease pressure on services and improve access to appointments.'