Author: Nick Hale

According to new report from AXA PPP Healthcare, online GP’s could deliver up to £1.5bn of savings for UK businesses.

Their report, which focuses around how online and telephone services can boost efficiencies across business and healthcare states significant savings can be made on the time it takes employees to travel to face-to-face medical appointments.

The figure of £1.5bn is derived from the total loss of working time in 2019, which could have been avoided if UK employees accessed online services instead.  These figures which have been produced by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) are striking, and further support the forward march of telemedicine.

AXA report that in 2019, 13% of NHS GP appointments in England were held over the phone, but less than 1% were made using online video calls.  The CEBR estimates that had virtual/online GP appointments been offered as a first access point across all GP practices, the number of face-to-face consultations could have been reduced by 50 million!

It is well-documented that virtual GP appointments aren’t always the appropriate route and that sometimes a physical examination is necessary, however, the AXA report supports that receiving appropriate assistance via an online setting yields many benefits.

One of the major issues in the NHS GP setting is that of cancellations, or worse still, “no shows”.  In some ways, because people don’t pay for their GP appointments, the perceived value to them is zero, meaning that there’s little by way of discouragement or penalty when they don’t turn up for an appointment.  The reality of course, is that GP appointments DO cost something, whether people turn up or not.  This means that not only is it a poke in the eye to the UK taxpayer, but it also makes that slot unavailable to someone else who may be in greater need.

AXA’s report states that 28% of respondents cite the main reason for cancellations or simply not turning up to appointments was due to work commitments taking over.  And when you consider that 41% of UK adults need to take a half day or more off work to attend a face-to-face GP appointment, you can start to appreciate just how big the opportunity is to improve things.

Technology is playing an ever increasing role in the healthcare space as part of an integrated journey from sickness to health, and whilst this has been limited over the past few years to the “early adopters”, the recent COVID-19 pandemic will have helped to kick-start the wider population, especially UK businesses.

Of course many employers have included telemedicine as part of their Employee Benefits provision for some time, but there are still HR functions or organisations as a whole who find it difficult to convince key stakeholders of the return on investment.

It is now becoming more clear than ever of the tripartite benefit on offer:

Employee – Speedy access to GP, faster diagnosis, improved recovery

Employer – Less down time for staff, lower absence rates, improved productivity

Society – Less stain on NHS GP’s, lower cost to NHS as patients routed via employee benefit provision, more NHS availability and capacity to those who genuinely need face-to-face GP time.

As consumers in a technological world, we order taxis and meals from the palm of our hand with little thought, but there has been some reluctance with healthcare, which can feel a bit too important to sort out via your phone.

But, as is the way of the world, things are moving forward, and as long as patient needs are well-managed into the future, it seems impossible to imagine a downside.

Virtual GP services can be purchased standalone, but most employers provide access via their Private Medical Insurance, Health Cash Plan, Group Life or Group Income Protection plans.

At Engage Health Group, we help businesses of all sizes and across all industries negotiate the health and wellbeing marketplace, on a local and global scale. We work on behalf of our clients to ensure businesses are getting advice that has their best interests at heart.

Contact our expert team of brokers at enquiries@engagehealthgroup.co.uk or call 01273 974419 for FREE no-obligation advice and support.

Engage Health Group is pleased to announce that it has recently appointed The Insurance Boutique as an Appointed Representative, with its two business owners, Ian Abbott and Nick Hale, also taking up Non-Executive and shareholder positions in the start-up broker.

The Insurance Boutique launched this month and has set out to be leading specialist in the health and protection markets.  In a marketplace where acquisition has been prevalent in recent years, the prime focus of The Insurance Boutique is to get back to the basics of impartial advice with fantastic personal service. 

The company is headed by Penny Jackson, who has 20 years of experience in individual and business protection, most recently as a successful Franchise Director at Vitality where she managed the Essex region for 4 years with her team of Business Consultants.

The Insurance Boutique will assist clients with UK and International Health Insurance, Individual Protection, Business Protection, and Employee Benefits.

Nick Hale of Engage Health Group commented

“Having worked with Penny for a number of years and being a first-hand witness to her fantastic work ethic and client focused nature, we moved very quickly to accommodate her new venture.  We are delighted to be working with Penny and look forward to supporting the inevitable growth The Insurance Boutique will no doubt experience”.

Said Penny Jackson, Director of The Insurance Boutique,

“I am delighted to join Engage Health Group, and having seen their success and growth over the years really got me thinking about my new venture. The partnership was the perfect fit and encouraged me to take the next step. Leaving Vitality wasn’t an easy decision but was made much easier at the prospect of working with Engage.”

For more information please visit www.theinsuranceboutique.co.uk. 

Engage Health Group specialises in UK and International health insurance as well as the broader Employee Benefits landscape, as an independent whole-of-market brokerage and consultancy.

For more information contact: enquiries@engagehealthgroup.co.uk

01273 974419