The ‘digital patient’: be a part of our research into the digital patient

Technology is pervasive; we have all become digital citizens. But what of the ‘digital patient’? We at Practice Business want to better understand how the digital patient is impacting general practices – how they are affecting your workload – and that of your practice – as well as care delivery processes and administration

Click here to fill in our survey and enter the competition win one of four Sonos Play 1 smart wifi speakers

Technology has transformed the world that we live in and how we behave in it; impacting the ways that we engage with others and with the services we use, altering our expectations and our experiences. We have all become ‘digital citizens’ and the impact is felt across all sectors – including healthcare.

With the NHS under pressure – burdened by increased demand on limited resources, emerging needs and growing workloads – efficient solutions are needed. In an increasingly digitalised world, technology is being championed as the answer, as reflected in NHS England’s now launched 24-hour service for NHS patients, which offers GP consultations via videolink on smartphones.

Speaking at EHI Live on November 1, Dr Robert Varnam, head of general practice development at NHS England, said: “The future of primary care cannot look like it is now and patient facing technology is a key part of helping the pressure in primary care.”

The digital patient

The ‘digital patient’ can be defined as, ‘one who appears to be familiar and at ease with digital technology and who has a tendency to interact with your practice online’. A recent YouGov poll provides insight into the rapidly increasing numbers of patients who can be considered as such, revealing that six out of 10 people would rather consult their own GP online than wait the average of 13 days for a face-to-face appointment.

What does this mean for your practice

Here at Practice Business we want to better understand how the digital patient is impacting your practice. For this reason, we have partnered with Nuance to investigate how the digital patient is modifying care delivery processes and administration, what technology you are introducing and implementing at your practice and how – both positively and negatively – the digital patient is affecting your workload and that of your practice.

We have developed a short survey to find this out; exploring how your practice accommodates digital patients and how you are planning – what technology you are introducing – to accommodate these behavioural changes. We also hope to be able to gauge the impact that this move towards digitised healthcare for the digital patient is having on your workload and that of your practice.

Help us with our research, share your experience so far!

Click here to fill in our survey and enter the competition. 

To show our appreciation of your participation our sponsor, Nuance, is donating prizes for those who complete the survey! All entrants will be entered into a prize draw to win one of four Sonos Play 1 smart wifi speakers. (Terms and conditions do apply).

We look forward to reading your responses, collating the outcomes and sharing this information with you.

The closing date for all entries is November 30, 2017.

Don’t forget to fill in our survey and enter the competition!