The Return on Investment of delivering health services online – an NHS Direct Case Study

Dr Brian GaffneyMedical Director and

Director of Public Health

John SimcockCharity and Health

Sector Manager

The return on investment of delivering health services online

Dr Brian Gaffney, Medical Director

“

”

Population growth and the aging of that population is leading to an increased

pressure on the NHS. Traditional face to face cannot keep pace with future

demand, nor would it be affordable.

Digital services can help bridge this gap

So, why be digital?

Access

contains 62 million people

82% are internet users

or 51million peopleInternet World Stats 2010/Neilson Online

The market for digital healthcare

46%of users looking at health on the internet are trying to self diagnose (18 million)

McDaid & Park, 2010

75%of internet users look for health online (38 million)

Channel diversity

Access

Ofcom Communications Market Report 2011

27%of adults

49%of teens

= 14 million

= 2.5 million

93% = 58 million

91% = 57 million

Why multichannel for health?

Improve the service deliver something other channels can’t

Improve accessallow the public to interact where they want to

Create demandencourage use of the service by making it available in more places

Create cost efficiencydeliver services for a lower cost

Is digital appropriate?

Digital healthcare delivery has been shown to:

increase access to care

increase patient empowerment

reduce costs

achieve equal or better quality of careNijland et al 2009, Umeford et al 2006, Bodenheimer et al 2002, Kerr et al 2006, Samoocha et al 2010

How to create value

The urgent care environment

Patients are confused by the urgent care environment, despite national and local campaigns

Online health and symptom checkers

Online tools

Quick and easy to use

Expert drivenassessment

Simple to use

Patient is guided through questions, step by step

What are the outcomes?

Decreasing demand on core NHS services

Online symptom checker

Self care advice online

Web chatwith NHS

Direct

Callback from NHS Direct

Pharmacy

Referred to GP, A&E,

Dentist or 999

The cost of NHS treatment

* DH Reference Costs 2009/10 ** PSSRU Unit Costs for Social Care 2009/10

£219

£95

£32

*

**

* - or -£8-12

£0.12

***

****

*** Connecting for Health/University of Sheffield, Second Interim Report, Oct 11**** NHS Direct service evaluation 2012

GP patient contact time by relevance

Genuine medical case for GP

Worried wellSocial care

Practice nurserelevant case

Minor – does notrequire HCP

A&E case

Only 1/3 of GP contact time is spent with

appropriate patients –Digital could deal with

many of the restAviva Health of the Nation Report July 2011

What’s the impact?

1% reduction in

face to face consultation

saves the NHS £200mDepartment of Health, 2011, Innovation, Health and Wealth

Effect on the health economy

£57 millionSaved in the health economy in 2010/11

A future vision?

A future vision?

A future vision?

A future vision?

Other uses?

Digital healthcare

Pre-attendance questionnaire

Webcam follow up

Online medicines

review Self care advice

Webchat questions

GP-Patient-Consultant conference

How we distribute our content

Operational model for content

Our objective is reach and usage, and to achieve this we adopt a model that is:

Platform agnostic

Destination agnostic

Dr Google

Online information dominated by search engines, so high visibility is key – people may not look for your service, but for the thing they want to do

Netdoctor

Channel 4

Explore innovation

Conclusions

Conclusions

Digital healthcare delivery has been shown to:

increase access to care

increase patient empowerment

reduce costs

achieve equal or better quality of careNijland et al 2009, Umeford et al 2006, Bodenheimer et al 2002, Kerr et al 2006, Samoocha et al 2010

What to do about it?

In your service can you:

allow patients to choose digitalinstead of face to face?

shift labour intensive tasks online?

make admin tasks like appointmentbookings available on the web?

Conclusion

Digital is transforming healthcare

With or without you.

Thank you for listeningAny questions?

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