It may depend on personal experience but a lot of the things you mention are actually already being done.
1) There are various services such as https://patient.emisaccess.co.uk/ which allow you to access your NHS records online/see test results/order repeat prescriptions;
2) GP's can provide consultations via video (i.e. https://www.pushdoctor.co.uk and https://www.gpathand.nhs.uk)
3) In Jan 2015, the ONS stated around 14% of workers worked at home (4.2m in total – not including those who do so one or two days per week.). Since then, the figures will have gone up (they were increasing quite a bit at that time). I also know that the Government is consolidating lots of central government department offices and works on the basis that they will only need about 6 seats for 10 staff (partly due to leave/illness but also working from home)
Those are good things. I use the ordering perscriptions stuff myself and its good. The pharmacies even pick it up and deliver it.
The main word about the GP's consultations is the word 'can'. Most don't. In the media they are always talking about people missing appointments, yet if you get to the doctors on time most of the time you end up waiting past your appointment time. I've been sat there for hours in the past at hospital. For the GP's it can be 30 minutes, especially if you have an appointment in the late afternoon, as the GP's can fall behind early on and never catch up. If most GP's offered the video consultations it would improve appointment compliance as well as you not having to be sat in the waiting room for a long time. The cost benefits of doing that would be massive. Yet hardly any GP's do it. I bet most GP appointments don't require an examination, and if they did then you wouldn't have to wait long as all the other types of appointments would be 'phoned in'.
The 14% workers at home is another good stat. I hope by 2018 that as increased a lot. Sadly we've moved away from a manufacturing country and have become more of a service industry. Most service industry office jobs could be done at home.
Take for example these call centres. In the US I knew personally people who work from home and they dial in to a phone system (probably a company phone system) and back then (this was in the 1990s) the phone system would auto dial numbers and you would talk/sell people stuff. In the year 2018 this system could be expanded to included computer feedback. So if you have a computer connected to the internet, and a phone, then all these call centre people should work from home. That would save the company money too, not having to hire a massive building and massive phone system.
I don't like to toot my own horn here (but I will lol).. but when I first went to the US about 10 years ago I liked the idea of drive thru's. After being able to order pizzas and similar foods I thought, wouldn't it be good if people could have drive-thru meals delivered too? I was knocking this idea around my head but my time in the US came to an end. I told a few people of the idea but nobody took it up. Then I've noticed the last few years people have started doing it. So if you want your Big Mac with fries, or KFC meal but you don't want to drive there, you can now order it and it be delivered. I'm sure those new companies are making a LOT of money.
The NHS needs to embrace the video consultations more. Maybe have the 111 number setup so it detects if you are calling from a mobile and if so asks if you want to video-call. Then the nurse on the other end can see you too.
Ok rant over
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