Our doctors or nurse practitioners look at the answers you give to our health questions to decide if you have an uncomplicated UTI that we can treat appropriately online. Depending on your symptoms and medical history, we may tell you that we can't give you a prescription and that you have to see a doctor or nurse practitioner in person.
We use evidence-based guidelines to make sure we ask you the right questions to determine if you have a UTI, but sometimes we'll get it wrong. If we get our diagnosis wrong then we'll either give you an antibiotic that you don't need or we'll decline to give you an antibiotic when actually an antibiotic is what you need. If we give you a medicine you don't need then you'll be at risk of the potentially serious side effects, and it'll increase the chance that any future infections will be resistant to the antibiotic we prescribe. In the second situation we'll delay you getting the correct care.