The Times’ 10-point plan touches on a wide range of impacting factors, with digital-health playing a fundamental role. Having driven and campaigned for innovation in the healthcare space for many years, I am reassured by the key points highlighted whilst remaining determined that further digital transformation is needed, and greater adoption is required.
As part of Huma Group, we have a global footprint and are operating in numerous healthcare systems. The team at iPLATO focus on improving healthcare for patients and clinicians, across regions, Integrated Care Boards, local place-based populations and per GP practice. I want to recognise how we’ve helped already in respect to the 10-point plan:
Create patient passports, what the Times called “digital health accounts”, accessible via the NHS App. This would bring all patient data under one roof;
As an NHS App leading integration partner, iPLATO offers it’s GP practices and their patients features such as Selfbook, Appointment Reminders, Keyword Replies, and Triage. This suite of advancements provide a seamless experience for patients whilst making healthcare services more accessible.
It’s worth mentioning that we have been leading in the digital front door space for a long time, having built a growing community of 3 million people on our patient app, myGP. Our community benefit from better control over their health by uniting easier access to services with proactive self-management tools, from local service appointment booking, medical record access, to free and self-pay resources, and remote prescription ordering.
Reform the GP contract with the goal of ensuring quicker appointments and restoring “continuity of care”;
Since I began iPLATO in the early 2000s, our technology has been transforming how patients access care. Appointment reminders and cancellations drive millions in savings for the NHS, whilst allowing patients to better, timelier and efficiently run care. As the NHS has evolved in complexities, so has the challenges around access for patients. Having already mentioned the community of patients on the myGP app benefitting from enhanced features, I am also proud to provide to our GP practices with the additional engagement capabilities through the NHS App.
Supporting the recent launch of Pharmacy First, we are working closely with national pharmacy networks to alleviate the burden of unnecessary appointments booked with GPs, towards local pharmacies. Starting with repeat prescriptions and the seven common condition service including treatment for sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bite, impetigo, shingles and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women under the age of 65.
Our work to improve the delivery of long-term condition care in primary care spans across areas including respiratory, cardiovascular and diabetes. Offering digital-first methods to engage, capture data and complete checks, supported by remote or ‘physical’ clinical services ensures continuity of care for key indicators like annual asthma reviews. Delivering this service for practices and PCNs releases clinic capacity, delivers better quality long-term condition management, and is a positive experience for patients and clinicians.
Children’s mental health services must offer treatment beginning in four weeks or less;
iPLATO has long recognised the importance of quick, accessible mental health support for all. Our partnership with Kooth, an online mental wellbeing support organisation, has enabled thousands of patients to access mental health services more easily and much sooner. Currently, the self-referral system allows children and young adults to book one-to-one sessions with counsellors and access peer-to-peer support. There is no waiting list and the service is available 24/7.
Obesity drive, “expanding the sugar tax, taxing salt, implementing a pre-watershed ban on junk food advertising and reducing cartoons on packaging”;
Reformation around unhealthy junk food is needed. I support targeted taxes to promote healthy lifestyles, implementing a pre-watershed ban on junk food advertising and efforts to reduce cartoon imagery on unhealthy food packaging. So far, our work with the Low-Calorie Diet/Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP) has been key to decreasing the incidence of Type 2 diabetes and those at risk. In North Central London, iPLATO’s Population Health Service was highly successful in driving patient engagement to increase referrals to the NHS DPP, especially among high-risk groups.
“Incentivise NHS staff to take part in research”;
Through actively supporting leading national initiatives including BEST4 and Our Future Health, we are committed to bridging the gap between primary care and research. Empowering GPs to invite their patients to become more actively involved in their own health is a key area of focus for iPLATO and dedicated Research Network of practice around the UK.
To continue to drive healthcare discoveries forward for the benefit of the UK’s population, support of the nations patients is crucial. Helpfully, we can unlock the power of GP’s authority through our iPLATO research network programmes.
Healthy Lives Committee – establish this with the pledge to increase life expectancy by five years.
Finally, the Healthy Lives Committee epitomises our unified goal across our company, to increase healthy life expectancy and reduce health inequalities, helping people live healthier, fuller lives. Why should where you are born determine how long you might live for?
Take our work in bowel cancer screening, focused on ensuring equal access across all communities, especially patient groups that have consistently lower take-up rates of bowel screening (FIT kits) than the rest of the population; these include non-white people, those for whom English isn’t their first language and others.
Whilst I am optimistic about the future of digital-first solutions driving innovation within the healthcare sector, there is a long way to go for the NHS still. The Time’s Ten Point Plan is a positive step towards acknowledging key issue areas, but widescale system adoption of transformation will be critical to ensuring the NHS thrives.
