Hallam Medical and Doctor Care Anywhere Group PLC – Case Study

Transforming access to high quality Private primary care and reducing wait times through Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs)

Doctor Care Anywhere Group PLC (DCA) is the UK’s largest private provider of telehealth services, offering private online GP and ANP appointments, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year via video and phone. DCA works with insurers, healthcare providers and corporate customers to provide patients with a range of digitally enabled telehealth services on their proprietary platform.

Doctor Care Anywhere is committed to delivering the best possible patient experience and clinical care through digitally enabled, joined up, evidence-based pathways. They are a leading digital platform, with a clear vision to be the primary care provider of choice for digital healthcare – and that all starts with DCA’s brilliant team. Their story started back in 2013, and they have continued to grow, and always looking for different ways to enhance their offering and finding the very best talent to help achieve their ambitious goals.

Hallam Medical is one of the UK’s leading Advanced Practice healthcare recruitment partners and are framework accredited healthcare recruitment specialists supporting both the NHS and private healthcare services across the country with the provision of experienced Healthcare Specialists.

Founded in 2007, Hallam Medical were the only healthcare recruitment agency that truly recognised and understood the value Advanced Practitioners added to a service. As the global pioneers of specialist Advanced Practice healthcare recruitment, Hallam Medical has provided over 3800 Advanced Practitioners to support Primary Care, Urgent Care, Community Care and 111 Services across the UK.

Hallam Medical’s Senior Team hold Advanced Practice and Clinical backgrounds. Their experience and knowledge delivering healthcare services across multiple settings throughout the UK and Internationally makes Hallam Medical the go to recruitment partner for locum staff across the UK healthcare market.

Adoption of digital health platforms

Digital health platforms have exploded in the last few years, seeing high growth rates being driven by patient’s need for accessible care. Following the pandemic, healthcare services have seen a change in consumer behaviours, shifting from face-to face to a more digital experience. Doctor Care Anywhere has been no exception to this shift, with demand for appointments increasing by 65% from January 2020 – December 2022.

Over the last 10 years, DCA has grown to cover 2.7 million patients; in May 2023 they delivered over 65,000 GP consultations, the highest month in the company’s history and they’ve been working hard to meet this increasing demand, continually onboarding new GPs, and growing the network of clinicians.

With declining GP numbers in the UK, rising demand for appointments and the struggles to recruit GPs have meant that patients in the NHS have faced challenges and longer wait times when trying to book appointments.

These factors, and the easy digital nature of the service, have seen an increase in patients turning to services like Doctor Care Anywhere to access the services they need.

The NHS Long Term Plan (NHS England, 2019) advocates nurses being at the forefront of primary care, with the introduction of an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) role in the NHS primary care setting. In 2020, 48% of appointments in the NHS were not carried out by GPs and therefore ANP’s are widely used.*

For Doctor Care Anywhere, the addition of Advanced Nurse Practitioners is part of this solution to provide high quality and timely care to patients.

Transforming access to high quality primary care

Doctor Care Anywhere understood to get the project up and running they would need to start with Locums to build confidence with the ANP workforce of the digital ways of consulting. When planning for the launch of ANPs onto the platform, DCA wanted to partner with an organisation that were known for sharing their passion of great talent. Following an in-depth procurement process, Hallam Medical were awarded the sole supplier contract in February 2023. Hallam Medical were asked to support by building a pool of 100+ locum Advanced Nurse Practitioners to consult on the DCA platform.

Hallam Medical are the first choice for Primary Care providers for clinical workforce solutions and have extensive knowledge and experience within the healthcare industry. Hallam Medical have delivered innovative workforce solutions to Primary Care, Urgent Care, Community Care and 111 services across the country.

Hallam Medical worked closely with the Doctor Care Anywhere recruitment and on-boarding teams to fully understand the requirements, company culture and timescales. They put together a project team to deal with the sourcing, on-boarding, and compliance of the required ANPs and began to support DCA through their recruitment process.

The recruitment process included sourcing, Hallam Medical registration, candidates having to complete a full Scope of Practice form ahead of interviews, competency-based interviews with DCA’s lead ANP team, IT tech check, online clinical and mandatory training, compliance, and ongoing rota management for all 100 ANPs going through the end-to-end process.

Evolving technology

Doctor Care Anywhere has evolved their technology to enhance the online booking journey, embedded additional patient safety features and to help minimise clinical risks.

In Spring 2023 DCA enhanced its platform which included the introduction of improved and additional pre-consultation questions along with all patients being asked to select a health category and a health concern. This improvement enabled a better understanding for patients’ reason for appointment and collect more information for our clinicians. This enhancement to the platform enabled clinical resources to be allocated to specific pathways and in what volumes, with the aim to optimise resource allocation. It also enables DCA to support more patients at their time of need.

Convenience, flexibility, and quality

The introduction to ANPs to consult on the DCA platform improves patient access to care, reduces wait times, and enhances overall healthcare delivery. With this new approach they can direct patients to the clinician that best matches their health need, so they can get the right type of care quickly and efficiently.

Why it matters to patients.

• Faster access to care – Reduction in wait time with more choice of appointment times.
• Convenient – Availability at a time that suits patients. Wherever they are.
• Empowering – Access to health advice, treatment, or prescriptions from ANPs and GPs.

Why it matters to our Channel Partners and corporate customers.

• Efficient – By addressing simple health concerns, DCA maximises GP appointment availability to patients that need them. This will provide a better customer experience for customers.
• Value – Offer great care to customers and realise value for every £ that’s spent. (ROI on absenteeism) and its cost-effective for customers and channel partners and a fraction of the cost of PMI
• Flexible – A broader service for employees means they have more healthcare options. Giving them the tools and guidance to make informed choices throughout their healthcare journey.

Conclusion:

By recognising the evolving landscape of healthcare, and with a commitment to delivering the best patient and clinical care Doctor Care Anywhere have strategically integrated Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) on to their platform, with the partnership of Hallam Medical.

The introduction of ANPs on the DCA platform has positively impacted patients by providing faster access to care, increased appointment flexibility, and empowering them with access to a range of healthcare professionals. Channel Partners and corporate customers have also benefited from this innovation through greater efficiency, value, and a more flexible and comprehensive healthcare service for their employees.

Doctor Care Anywhere remains dedicated to providing excellence in digital healthcare, embracing technological advancements, and continuing to meet the needs of patients, partners, and corporate customers alike.

Hallam Medical continues to be committed to delivering against the healthcare market’s needs, providing the right staffing solutions to complement and enhance the client’s permanent workforce, as well as meeting their ever-changing locum needs.

 

*https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/appointments-in-general-practice/january-2023