Video GP provider reveals plans to partner with 111

Online GP provider Livi is working with local health organisations on integrating video consultations into the 111 system in “three regions of the UK”. Plans are still in the early stages but the option of seeing a digital GP is expected to be added as an outcome to the 111 software, which will result in patients being directed to Livi.

The 111 partnership is part of Livi’s broader plans to integrate with local health systems, with more details expected to be announced this week.

Livi’s UK managing director Juliet Bauer told HSJ that while the coronavirus pandemic has been a “terrible tragedy” it has provided a “once in a generation” opportunity to “redefine” what digital healthcare looks like.

Ms Bauer said: “It’s easy to imagine healthcare could be better. It’s easy to imagine that you really could have a lot of your healthcare needs solved in your pocket, but then you need the integrated experience.

“You can’t solve it by digitising one primary care journey and one secondary care journey and not linking it all together.

“That’s what we’ve been doing, and in three areas we are working on integrating with 111.”

Livi is the UK’s divison of European healthcare provider Kry and provides video consultations through an app.

The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a surge in the use of digital technology in primary care. Ms Bauer said that, despite the majority of patients opting for telephone consultions, video appointments “are more useful” and result in fewer onward referrals. However, after the pandemic patients should be given options regarding the way they access care, rather than being forced down a particular route, Ms Bauer added.

She said: “We need to enable patients to use the tools that they want and are clinically safe and appropriate for them to use and we shouldn’t be the ones to dictate to them which one it is.”