Nuffield Health and Doctor Care Anywhere have announced that they are developing a unique health service which will see virtual and face-to-face services integrated through a single digital platform. Due to launch in Q4 this year, the partnership will combine Doctor Care Anywhere’s 24/7 virtual GP service with Nuffield Health’s national network of face-to-face GPs creating the first joined up primary care proposition of its kind.

This new service will transform the health journeys of patients by allowing them to choose how, when and where they access the primary care services they require. Combining the availability of virtual GP appointments with the face-to-face services offered across Nuffield Health’s hospital, fitness & wellbeing and corporate on-site centres will mean customers of the UK’s largest healthcare charity will have access to an expanded scope of services which can be accessed, reviewed or followed up on one platform.

The COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed the way many patients are willing to access primary healthcare services. This shift began well before the pandemic as increasing access and understanding of technology encouraged many patients to seek the responsiveness and convenience of digital healthcare. The unique circumstances created by COVID-19 has accelerated and cemented this change in behaviour with many patients now demanding access to GP services whenever they need it and wherever they are.

This shift to digital is particularly welcome at a time when there is huge pressure on NHS primary care systems.  This new service aligns the changing needs of corporate workforces across the country.  For many organisations preparations for a return to the office are emphasising an increasing focus on employee health and wellbeing and facilitating access to responsive, convenient primary care services.

Dr Davina Deniszczyc, Medical Director at Nuffield Health, said, “We are delighted to be strengthening our partnership with Doctor Care Anywhere to offer customers access to a national network of virtual and face to face GPs. The pandemic has demonstrated the need for accessible health services and through this partnership we are now able to offer everyone the choice of how they access their GP, whenever they need to.”

Doctor Care Anywhere, CEO, Dr. Bayju Thakar, said, “We’re very excited to be providing the first joined-up healthcare journey of this kind in the UK and to be deepening our partnership with Nuffield Health.  This new collaboration, the first joined up service of its type in the UK, will bring the benefits of digital healthcare to the face-to-face primary care setting and allow individuals more control over how, where and when they choose to access primary care services. This represents a true shift in how healthcare can and should be delivered on a national scale and at a time when there is a huge pressure on primary care systems across the UK offers real improvements in terms of convenience, cost and quality of the care experience.”

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For more information on the launch of this service, please contact corporate@nuffieldhealth.com

Notes to Editors

About Nuffield Health

Nuffield Health is the UK’s largest healthcare charity. For the last 60 years, Nuffield Health’s experts have been working together to make the nation fitter, healthier, happier and stronger, all for the public benefit. We do this through outstanding day-to-day services in our family of 31 award-winning hospitals, 113 fitness and wellbeing centres, healthcare clinics, and over 150 workplace wellbeing services, and through our flagship programmes to support communities by widening access.

What makes us unique is the breadth of our expertise to provide connected care spanning from personal training and health assessments to supporting people on their fitness journeys, helping patients recover with physiotherapy or emotional wellbeing services, or providing hospital treatments for illness and serious conditions like arthritis or cancer.

Nuffield Health delivers unsurpassed standards, with a sector-leading 94% of our hospitals judged good or excellent by national regulators, so it’s no surprise that we’re trusted by the NHS, private medical insurers, employers and the general public to provide exceptional health and wellbeing services to the nation.

But what also makes us different is our commitment to our flagship programmes to widen access, be that improving the lives of hundreds of children with cystic fibrosis through free exercise classes, or by pioneering the world’s largest research project into how exercise can help men recovering from prostate cancer, or by partnering with schools to provide thousands of pupils with free timetabled programmes to improve their health and wellbeing.

Find out more about us and our pioneering models of care: https://www.nuffieldhealth.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn

About Doctor Care Anywhere

Doctor Care Anywhere is a doctor-founded digital healthcare company. It is committed to delivering high-quality, effective and efficient care to its patients, whilst reducing the overall cost of providing clinical services. 

Doctor Care Anywhere has leveraged the latest cloud-based technology to join primary care, diagnostics and secondary care to provide joined up care across the patient journey. Patients are provided with a single, secure digital patient record that they can access whenever they like, and wherever they are.

Media Contacts

James Gittings, Acuitas Communications (Doctor Care Anywhere)

james.gittings@acuitascomms.com

T: +44 (0)20 3848 2812

M: +44 (0)7308 509608

Chris Daniels, Nuffield Health

Chris.daniels@nuffieldhealth.com

M: +44 (0)7920 267435