Dr. Amir Niazi:

The Deputy is absolutely right. When we are sitting with a patient face-to-face, it is not only the words that the patient says; we look at many other things. We look at the body language, their hygiene and other dimensions of our assessment. There are patients who even are paranoid who are not well when they on the other end of the phone because they have their own anxiety about the technology. It was used during the pandemic. We are not saying that we are replacing it. Even during that phase of the pandemic, when the use of technology was happening, a doctor, who was concerned about somebody's mental health or felt that the information required from those assessments was not gathered appropriately, asked the patient to present to one of the acute units where separate areas were developed, keeping social distancing and other guidelines in place.

Now that the pandemic is settling a little, those face-to-face assessments have started to increase. Patient need dictates how much of that can be done by technology. If a patient is not sleeping and asks for a sleeping tablet, we can address that issue. However, if we feel a patient's assessment requires face-to-face detailed assessment, he or she is invited to attend one of our units. We are looking at the layout of all our outpatient areas and our sector headquarters and what needs to be done to make them safe. I totally accept that we are not replacing technology, but that is another tool in our arsenal and it is available if we need to use it.