When I was a student I spent a year or so working for Scotland’s telephone contact centre, NHS 24. We would take calls from all over the country. The system was operated on a triangular principle of call centres, in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Due to the geographical nature of Scotland, the highlands and islands specifically, getting medical help and advice could be difficult.
Sometimes when taking calls where we would have to lead the caller through a set of processes, the outcome being determined by the answers they would give. We would rely heavily on the their descriptions of themselves or the person they were calling about. They would say things like ‘its a bit swollen’ or ‘the rash is red and raised’ and a million other variations of those types of things. Often I would sit there on the phone thinking, what if we could see this. Wouldn’t that be so much easier
I was an undergraduate podiatry student then. Fast forward six years, I am the director of a company, an employer and yet still a podiatrist above all. I enjoy being a podiatrist. And my standard answer to those who say ‘how can you do this job’ has become something along the lines of ‘ I enjoy helping people. I take away pain and advise people on improving their health’. Wanting to help people comes from somewhere deep within care givers, whatever form that might take, the doctor, the nurse or indeed the podiatrist.
I can hear the phone at reception from my office. Sometimes we are unable to offer patients appointments. Victims of our own success some might say. Its true to say that my team of podiatrists are proud of providing very good care to patients. That can mean from time to time we struggle to help everyone who asks for it, when they need it most. I thought on the solution for around a year. I knew if I could connect with patients remotely, just like I thought of when I was at NHS 24, I could help more people, faster.
It wasn’t until a dinner with friend and colleague Damien Gough, who was well versed in the application of technology in healthcare that the notion started to become a reality. Damien and I had shared our motivations and passion for helping people on a larger scale than we were already able to do. Across our meatballs and pasta we returned suggestions like, Skype, Facebook messenger, and various others. All these would be discounted for a number of reasons including data security, encryption and what we thought was a trusted, serious platform for patients to engage with. After a few months of exchanges we finally developed a system that would work. It was secure, private, reputable. It was easy to use and reliable. Finally, we had done it. So after a year in the planning, in the end, it took only a matter of weeks to finalise once we had something tangible to work with.
The system is simple. From the outset I wanted to have the fewest number of clicks required to connect, ensuring it was uncomplicated for the user. Now we have a care portal which
user through 3 clicks of a mouse can be face to face with an expert. No waiting times, no busy waiting rooms, transport or parking issues to worry about. The future of healthcare provision has arrived. I predict that virtual consultations will become routine. Change takes time and Im sure it wont be without resistance from those who fear it but it still feels good to be at the front end of it.
You can watch our short video explaining how our tele-medicine portal works here
Or if you would like to use the service right now click here
