Hero Health

NHS Problem:

Everyday across the UK, patients are left frustrated when trying to connect with primary care specialists. 52% of people find it “difficult” to make a GP appointment, the “8AM rush” has become a thing and it is not uncommon to wait 30 minutes on hold when contacting your GP practice. This is despite primary care clinicians working harder than ever before – since 2020, appointment volumes have increased by 10%, whilst the number of practicing GPs has declined by nearly 1%. Hero exists to delight patients and improve access, whilst automating administrative and clinical workload.  

Solution:

Hero is an intelligent online booking and communication platform designed to improve patient access whilst simultaneously driving administrative efficiencies.

To use Hero, practices make selected slots available to Hero from within the diary of their EPR (EMIS, SystemOne). Slots are displayed in a restricted fashion (e.g., for over-35s only) online via a practice’s website, or exposed to patients ‘by invitation’ using Hero’s integrated messaging.

Additional data can be gathered via simple and customisable structured forms, with data inputted by patients upon booking or separately via SMS or Email. Data is saved back into the EPR with relevant SNOMED codes.

Impact: 

• Each patient-led booking through the Hero platform saves 5 minutes of clinical administration
• Independent studies indicate self-booking functionality would bring benefits of £123M over five years to primary care across England (Prova Health & Unity Insights)