A partnership between Push Doctor and Urban Health and I3 primary care networks, covering 13 practices and 88,000 patients now enables patients to make a digital appointment with an online GP.
A pilot at Halcyon Medical surgery in Central Birmingham has been a roaring success said the partnership, with 34% of the practice’s 11,000 patients signing up for online access.
Matthew Nye, Medical Director at Halycon Medical, said “When we first partnered with Push Doctor, our aim was to improve the level of patient care by improving access through more convenient appointments that fitted around their busy schedules. It was also important to us as a practice that there was no extra administration involved so the partnership could benefit our doctors as well as our patients.”
“We are therefore thrilled that both of these objectives are being fulfilled. There is a high quality of written records, most cases have not required repeat consultations and follow-up actions such as referral, blood tests and prescriptions have been completed without delay. This pilot is helping us understand the use case, demand and access needs of different groups.”
“It is also worth noting that a significant proportion of the patients using the service are coming with potentially sensitive conditions that they may have avoided taking to their regular GP, so digital health has given these patients a real alternative. We hope as many patients as possible can benefit from the advantages of digital health.”
Wais Shaifta, Chief Executive of Push Doctor, added: “We want digital health to be part of this country’s healthcare fabric, so making it available through the NHS is the fastest way to achieve this. It gives patients more control over their health, it reduces the burden on doctors and their practice teams and aligns with the Government’s ambitions to make better use of technology in healthcare.”
“It is pleasing that Halcyon Medical’s patients have had a positive experience to date and we would urge more people to take advantage of similar pilots operating in their area.”
