Near Me video consulting

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Near Me aims to provide the people of Scotland with the choice to attend health, care and other appointments via video call where appropriate.

What is Near Me
NES Design icon of person and video screen with colored play button

Near Me is a safe and secure video consulting service powered by the Attend Anywhere platform. This is a web-based system helping public sector providers offer video call access to their services as part of business as usual operations.

Near Me is approved for use in the Scottish Public Sector by the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland.

New for 2024 - eLearning modules

Our eLearning resources are a great way for you to learn about Near Me video calls. You can access the modules below:

Why use Near Me
Image of blue and white Near Me logo


Near Me provides simple person-centric video consulting. The Near Me flyer describes how it works, and details the benefits for staff, people, service providers, organisations and for Scotland.

To find out more about the advantages of using Near Me,  view the 2021/22 End of Call Survey: Feedback from people using Near Me  inforgraphic.

The published evidence to support the use of video consultation continues to grow.  To find out more visit Evidence Base at tec.scot

Group consultations using Near Me
NES Design icon - group consultations - person and video screen with 8 people and colored play button


Group consultations to address health and wellbeing needs of patients are recognised as being effective and an efficient use of clinicians’ time. They also provide a safe environment where patients can gain mutual support from others with a shared health condition as part of their self-management. 

To find out more visit Group Consultations at tec.scot

Why Near Me Works for Bill - a patient's perspective

A short video by NHS Grampian. Bill tells us why Near Me video consultation is a valuable option for supporting them attend healthcare appointments.

Practitioners supporting the public to use Near Me

To use Near Me people require internet access, a suitable device (computer, tablet, laptop or smart phone) and the Chrome, Edge or Safari web browser. Computer users will also need a web camera (usually built into laptops and smart phones) and a headset or speakers.

 

For further information supporting members of the public there is a separate website at nearme.scot 

Getting started using Near Me

When starting to provide Near Me, practitioners and services are advised to consider three things: technical set up, training, and processes to embed video consulting into existing systems.  This short video provides an overview of all three areas.

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Find out how to apply for a Near Me access at Application for Near Me via NHS Scotland National Video Conferencing Service.

NHSS National Video Conferencing Service has also developed useful training videos and hints, tips and guides to support practitioners from health and social care with the administrative roles required to use Near Me in practice.

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To find out more about the Scottish Government Near Me Programme, test out the Near Me caller experience,  and meet the team visit tec.scot or if you're thinking about using Near Me the getting started section will provide information to help you.

Image of Near Me logo

 

The Near Me YouTube channel provides useful practitioner videos exploring the use of Near Me and how Near Me is supporting better health and wellbeing outcomes.

Near Me technical skills

This short video provides an overview of how to use the Attend Anywhere platform that powers the Near Me service.

 

To find out how to log into Near Me and make video calls watch this short training film for practitioners.

 

Video consulting skills

Consulting by video requires different communication skills to those required for in-person consultations.

This training film describes how to provide a successful video consultation including the specific communication skills, clinician set up and patient selection. It also provides examples of good and bad consultations.

 

This video consulting checklist has been developed to support practitioners to plan a video consultation as well as providing step by step guidance for before, during, and after the consultation, 

Using Near Me in practice

As part of an improvement approach, the Near Me team have worked with partners, clinicians, and service providers to develop guidance to support the setup of new Near Me services.  These are aimed at staff members involved in setting up a new service.

Administrative staff are key to offering people the choice of  a Near Me video appointment. The Near Me Quick Start Guide will help staff with the practical elements of enabling Near Me video appointments.

Guidance documents have also been developed for public services in Scotland. They are split into general guidance that applies to all settings, and additional speciality-specific information.

The Generic Guidance section contains in-depth documentation from a range of settings. 

The Specialty Guidance section contains information specific to the clinical specialty.

To support practitioners with the technical and process set-up the checklist for Near Me in general practice and the checklist for Near Me in outpatients have been developed. These checklists cover: what the organisation needs, what has been agreed and useful resources.

If you’d like to hear more about using Near Me, then here are some video case studies exploring with practitioners how they are using Near Me to support people.

You can also watch a range of webinars which showcase how Near Me has been used. These are a useful learning tool that can support the spread of Near Me within your area. 

Find out more

Sponsored by Scottish Government’s Technology Enabled Care Programme: (2015–2023) visit Near Me at tec.scot

Contact the team at nss.nearme@nhs.scot