PUSH DOCTOR TO PROVIDE DIGITAL HEALTHCARE FOR OVER 300,000 PEOPLE IN WEST LONDON THROUGH NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH NHS TRUST

PUSH DOCTOR TO PROVIDE DIGITAL HEALTHCARE FOR OVER 300,000 PEOPLE IN WEST LONDON THROUGH NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH NHS TRUST

Monday 18 January 2021: Push Doctor, the leading digital healthcare company, has been chosen as the digital partner for Hounslow GP Practices supported by Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare (HRCH) NHS Trust, as integrated care partners. The move will give over 300,000 people in the Hounslow community direct access to secure and convenient digital NHS GP appointments, whilst reducing workload for GPs in 45 practices, allowing clinicians to better manage their time in the face of unprecedented demand.

The service will greatly benefit the Hounslow area, whose residents have been severely impacted by Covid-19. The borough is forecast to be the second worst-hit in London, facing a 40% drop in economic activity and a third of the borough’s workforce to have their jobs impacted due to the reduction in activity at Heathrow.[1] What’s more, 15% of adults have a life limiting long-term illness in the area.[2] Better and faster access to healthcare will therefore help patients with long-term health conditions better manage their condition. Access to Push Doctor will also help clinicians mitigate the impact on the population and support the local community through its recovery, by opening and substantially improving access to healthcare.

Patients will have direct access to book appointments from their smartphone or device 24/7, with appointments scheduled from 8am-8pm Monday – Friday, and 8am-5pm on Saturday. This means better, faster, more flexible access to clinicians, where patients don’t need to travel or take time off work. It will also reduce exposure risk to Covid-19 and remove clinic opening time barriers. Appointments include same day prescriptions, instant sick notes and record syncing, where doctors’ notes will be available to the patient’s local GP surgery.

To help serve a diverse community speaking a variety of languages, the Push Doctor platform will provide digital appointments with clinicians in multiple languages, helping to reduce health inequalities. The platform is simple to use for patients, who will also have access to video tutorials on the site and on YouTube.

Wais Shaifta, Chief Executive, Push Doctor, said: “The breadth of this service will deliver a significant uplift in digital GP resource to over 300,000 patients across 45 practices in the Hounslow area. Not only does this mean better and more equal access to health support for those who need it, but it will remove non-essential footfall for GP practices, freeing up more time for GPs to see patients who really need face-to-face care.

“We’re proud to have been chosen to be a true digital partner of Hounslow Practices and HRCH and are excited to supercharge what they’ve already been doing under the NHS banner. Beyond the use of video consultations during the pandemic, the benefits of digital are clear and must become a core part of the healthcare landscape in the future. We hope this is the start of a new delivery model that will set up a future digital NHS across the country.”

Dr Akhil Mayor, PCN Deputy Clinical Director for Hounslow Health, said: “The impact of COVID-19 on our community has been heart-breaking. We are set for another tough year, but this patient-led service should give our community better, quicker access to GPs and other healthcare professionals. We hope this will be another step towards helping local people get the care they need.

“We’ve listened to our patients and they told us they would like us to use more technology to support them. Our decision to choose Push Doctor as our digital partner will allow us to rise to that challenge and make it easier to get the right care, in the right place, at the right time in Hounslow.”

The partnership will start with GP appointments, with potential to bring on additional clinician types such as nurses at a later date.

Hounslow Practices and HRCH may also look to using the Push Doctor framework to step forward with digital integration across existing joint roles in primary care (physiotherapists, pharmacists and paramedics) and beyond, to support their existing plans for a one team approach to out of hospital care. For practices, there will be considerable resource savings through reduced telephone enquiries, fully managed consultations, and a complete clinical governance support team.

After doubling its NHS patient reach to 5.7 million during the pandemic, Push Doctor recently secured £13.7m through a Series C funding round to scale its digital services to support the NHS across the country.

[1] https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/19999/your_council_and_elections/2189/the_economic_impact

2 https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/downloads/file/1042/joint_strategic_needs_assessment_2017_-_this_is_hounslow

[1] https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/19999/your_council_and_elections/2189/the_economic_impact

[2] https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/downloads/file/1042/joint_strategic_needs_assessment_2017_-_this_is_hounslow