The doctor will Skype you now
pharmafile | April 30, 2014 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | CQC, NHS, Skype, babylon, digital, healthberry, parsa
A new smartphone app called Babylon is looking to give patients an ‘NHS in their pocket’ by allowing video consultations with doctors and arranging drug deliveries.
Launched this week the app is the first mobile platform linking patients and GPs to be endorsed by the Care Quality Commission, according to the firm that develops the tool.
It is not free however, and costs £7.99 a month – but for this price users get face-to-face access to GPs, specialists and nurses from 8am to 8pm, six days a week.
They will also be able to submit photos of any conditions such as worrying moles or rashes for diagnosis. The app is able to collate a patient’s data, including their body-mass index and blood pressure, and has an in-built ability to raise the alarm if its analysis spots any risks.
The company was founded by former Goldman Sachs banker Ali Parsa, who was also the former chief executive of Circle, the first private firm to manage an NHS hospital.
“I thought, ‘What if you could do for healthcare what Amazon did for the delivery of books,’” he says. “You get access to your own GP 12 hours a day, six days a week for less than the price of a cup of coffee.”
He went on to tell Wired magazine: “The vast majority of our interactions with healthcare have very little to do with hospitals. They are mostly simple consultations and diagnostics. When we get that in the most arcane manner, with phone calls, appointments, having to take half a day off, it’s inconvenient, expensive and difficult.”
Patients can either ask when their designated GP can speak to them or arrange to consult the next available doctor.
Paul Glynne, Babylon’s chief medical officer and the former medical director of University College Hospital, London, says that the company had received hundreds of applications from GPs and specialists.
He adds that the “revolution in digital health technology presents exciting opportunities to radically change and improve models of healthcare delivery”. The company has teamed up with the private UK healthcare company Bupa and will offer consultations with the private Harley Street doctors set.
The company adds that patient data would be kept in physical servers but could be accessed through the app, which is protected with a password but no biometric security. The video consultations will be carried out through an encrypted programme similar to Skype.
At launch, Babylon has recruited more than 100 doctors, overseen by Glynne. “We don’t employ anybody full time – everybody needs to have their hands physically engaged with patients as part of the continuum of healthcare,” says Parsa.
Some of the GPs dedicate up to half of their time to Babylon, for which they are given a salary. Consultants are paid per session. “We pay them the market rate, but we use them more efficiently so we can reduce the amount of money we charge our customer,” Parsa explains.
Katherine Murphy, the chief executive of the Patients’ Association, told the Times that the app was a ‘great advance in technology’ and the NHS could not afford to be left behind.
She warned, however, that babylon should not be allowed to detract from the quality of care for older patients who did not have smartphones and that it should take care to protect data.
Brave new world
This comes in the same week that another firm named HealthBerry launched its social media web and mobile app that it says will ‘transform’ how the NHS engages with patients and providers.
It works by aggregating feedback left across channels such as Twitter and Facebook, along with more tailored ones such as Care Connect and Patient Opinion.
The aim of the platform is for the organisations involved to be better armed with information regarding health services, to promote self-care and to listen and engage with patients.
Ben Adams
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