THE FLAGSHIP iHeart Barnsley project which aims to give patients better access to GPs has not had an impact on the number of people turning up at Barnsley Hospital’s accident and emergency department, hospital bosses have said.

The service aims to give people better access through social media and the internet and offers telephone appointments, nurse triage and extra appointments.

It is also hoping to offer online booking, e-mail consultations, video conferencing, telephone assessments and follow ups.

It was set up by Barnsley Health Care Federation alongside the Clinical Commissioning Group - which commissions the town’s health services - who said last month that 4,000 people had used it.

But speaking at a council meeting, Karen Kelly, the hospital’s director of operations, said the project - which was funded with £2.5m from the Prime Minister's’ Challenge Fund - had made little impact on A and E admissions since it launched in November.

Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle