Challenge
In a new white paper published by Patchs Health and our partner, One Advanced, we ask how to ensure that new technology has a positive impact on healthcare
When it comes to healthcare, no one would disagree with the fact that – whoever you are and whatever your personal circumstances – everybody should find it equally easy to access the services they need, when they need them.
Unfortunately, inequality in healthcare is an ongoing fact. And, far from getting better, in recent years the situation has actually been worsening.
Patients can experience inequities in access for a number of reasons – owing to physical disabilities, perhaps, or else because English is not their native language. Or maybe they happen to live in a rural community, far from a GP practice. What’s more, the cost-of-living crisis has increased the number of low-income households, leaving people even more pressed to take time off to visit their GP in person.
There are also serious problems on the GP side. Long-term underfunding and staffing issues are increasing pressures on GP time, and this is having a hugely negative impact on patient safety.
Clearly, there is a need for action on several fronts. But, whilst there may be no single magic bullet, one thing is not in doubt: technology can help.
Solution
Yes, technology can help, but that is not the end of the story.
In our conversations with practicing clinicians, it became clear that the emphasis must remain on can – technology’s potential to help is not a given. If, for example, the technology in question is not designed to be as inclusive as possible, it can end up alienating people, and actually increase the inequalities it ought to be alleviating.
Avoiding such a scenario is one of Patchs Health’s major concerns. It is why we continually conduct research with both patients and GPs. Their feedback informs our decisions about which updates we need to work on – and it has already provided the grounds for some of Patchs’ key features. These are features which we believe make Patchs stand out from other Online Consultations (OC) currently on the market.
Here are just some examples:
- Integration of Artificial Intelligence:
The chief healthcare problem to solve is that a lot of patients contact GP practices when their problem can be dealt with elsewhere, such as a pharmacy or through self-care. This means that the people who really do need to see a doctor sometimes can’t. Good OC software therefore needs to be able to direct people elsewhere, when appropriate, and to prioritise those patients who need urgent help.
This is exactly what Patchs’ built-in AI is designed to do. It analyses how clinicians deal with real-life problems and feeds this back into the system, so the software is continuously improving its decision-making capabilities to deliver automated triage.
This is completely unlike other OC systems, which are not based on AI and instead use cumbersome multiple-choice questions to determine an outcome. The risk here is that the patient will abandon the process. It also increases the administrative burden on the practice, because doctors are obliged to read reams of questionnaires. Other OC systems have no triaged processes at all, which can put patients at risk.
- Use of Free-Text and Language Translation
It is important that patients are able to describe their symptoms using their own words, particularly in complex or sensitive cases, or where English is not their first language. Rather than having to select a problem from a drop-down menu or answer multiple-choice questionnaires, patients can say exactly what they want to say. It makes access to the software more equitable, more accurate, and safer.
Outcome
During the pandemic, GP practices rushed to purchase OCs without full knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of differing systems. Now that digital tools have become normalised, it is important to take the time to examine and select a system which consciously addresses healthcare inequalities, whilst also working hard to reduce GP workload.
A good OC will be designed to help GPs be able to spend more time with the right patients. It will be based on evidence-based research and real-life data, so that GPs can trust that patient requests are being triaged safely.
Our research has shown that having the correct triage tools in place is the cornerstone when it comes to increasing access to different patient cohorts and reducing inequalities. A system built on AI is the best way to meet these needs. Because there is such variation across available OCs, it is imperative that GPs make an informed choice, and really understand the differences between the technologies being offered.
Find out more
You can read the full white paper White Paper – Health Inequalities in Primary Care