Written by CONGRATULATIONS to one of our biggest app advocates! – West Heath Surgery in Birmingham, who have won an NHS Parliamentary award for their use of our PatientPack app, and their input to its ongoing development.
The NHS Parliamentary awards seek entries from nominees who have innovated, impressed and made a real difference to how the NHS provides care for patients.
The team were nominated for ‘The Future NHS Award’ category by their MP Gary Sambrook, for their involvement and use of our app, which is branded as the Birmingham and Solihull Health app in their area. It’s used by patients to book appointments, order and manage medications, check symptoms, send through administration and clinical forms and much more.
Nirmal Vora, CEO of West Heath surgery, which is part of the SDS Myhealthcare Federation comments: “Nearly half of our patients are registered on the app, which is a significant achievement compared to other practices in our area. We’ve worked hard to promote it, and drive patient engagement and use because it reduces pressure on our telephone lines, and relieves our workload.”
The nomination hails the team for revising practice processes to embrace online consultation and new ways of triaging patients using the app, driving efficiencies and improving the quality of service and access for patients.
Since implementation:
- 4,391 patients have used the app to book appointments – relieving the number of telephone calls to the practice and freeing up the phone lines and reception staff time for less digitally able patients
- 25,089 medication requests have been processed virtually, relieving practice administration pressures and enabling patients to access this service 24/7 – not just when the practice is open. The app enables prescription requests for all practices in the Federation to be sent to the prescription ordering team. They process them centrally, resulting in huge cost savings and reduced wastage
- There have been 37,180 views of patient medication – reducing queries into the practice
- There have been 6,833 views of conditions – these pages have links to self-care articles, encouraging self-help and potentially reducing appointment requests
Working in partnership
The nomination also applauds the input the team at West Heath has provided to Substrakt Health as we look to develop the app and release new features to benefit both patients and practices.
Andy Hartwell, Commercial Director at Substrakt Health comments: “We were so happy to hear of West Heath’s award for their use of our app.
“We work closely with the team who are invaluable in providing advice and support to help us to constantly evolve the app so it not only benefits them, but also the other 81 practices across Birmingham and Solihull and their patients using it.
“Having a local practice involved with the development ensures the product is meeting the needs of local practices and patients”
“Raising the profile of this practice and its commitment to implementing digital solutions to improve access and patient care will help to encourage other practices locally to embrace this new model of working”
Gary Sandbrook, MP for Birmingham Northfield
