OFFER: COVID-19 response tools

DrDoctor toolkit assists remote communication, outreach and more

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, DrDoctor is offering their response tools to anyone in the UK National Health Service (NHS) who needs them.

There are five tools available:

• Broadcast messaging
• Covid-19 symptom assessments
• Video consultations
• Remote requests
• Follow-up management

Broadcast messaging enables the NHS to communicate updates to large cohorts of patients quickly and easily, keeping them informed of the latest advice and reassured about changes to their appointments. Over 160,000 messages were sent to patients in the first three days following the release of this tool to current NHS clients.

Covid-19 symptom assessments is a tool to send digital assessments to large cohorts of patients either on an ad-hoc basis or for screening purposes before a face-to-face appointment.

Video consultations gives NHS Trusts the ability to continue outpatient services via an integrated video consultation platform. It allows patients to be onboarded automatically through the remote request tool and displays discreet Trust branding to reassure patients that they are interacting with their Trust’s doctors.

Remote requests ensures patients who don’t need a face-to-face appointment are receiving care at home. Patients can request a remote appointment by SMS and this tool can be used to onboard patients to the Trust’s current video consultation services (e.g. Attend Anywhere, Zoom, Skype, Xuper) or DrDoctor’s video consultations tool.

Remote requests makes it easier for  teams in hospitals to book appointments, while identifying those patients who can’t manage to get set-up for a remote appointment.

Follow-up management ensures that patients are seen based on need. Patients are sent digital forms to complete instead of completing them at an appointment, with reminders ensuring that the form completion rate is maximised. Clinicians can then assess the form quickly and make a decision on whether the patient should come in for a face-to-face appointment, or a telephone or video appointment, or whether the patient does not need to be seen at all.