Holly - For nearly six months, patients of Pallion general practice in Hulst ask their health questions via the app Medicoo. Initial experiences are positive. Patients no longer need to make an appointment via the assistant first. They also no longer need to leave the house and can also ask their questions in the evening and at weekends. Together with other practices in the region, it was decided to use the Medicoo app for people who have moved to Hulst, but have not yet found their own GP. This way, these people can still always ask their care questions without increasing the workload of the practices.
Addressing capacity shortage and increasing accessibility
For the practice team, deploying the healthcare app Medicoo was a way to overcome a shortage of capacity and be more accessible to patients. Particularly for skin complaints, questions about ankle/foot problems, information about vaccinations and psychological complaints, patients use the app to ask their questions. In addition, more women than men use the app. While it is often assumed that younger people in particular are open to digital solutions, remarkably many people in the 50-80 age group use the app.
Robbert Zijl, GP at Pallion GP practice in Hulst, talks about Medicoo's added value for his practice: "It's great to see that many people have now discovered the app and are using it. In the beginning, everyone had to get used to referring people who find the waiting time too long, for example, to the app. But now this is quite natural for the assistants with satisfied patients as a result. We are aware that some patients find it exciting to ask their health question via an app. Fortunately, we always get positive experiences back from people who did try it."
Through the chat function, patients receive personalised advice from the medical team at Medicinfo, the company behind Medicoo. When necessary, patients can then video call a GP. For both patients and practice staff, this offers many advantages. For the GP practice, it helps to reduce the workload as the first, non-urgent questions are already taken care of via the app.
Robbert Zijl adds: "We always receive a message from Medicoo when someone has contacted them so that we can stay informed about the well-being of our patients. If required, we can take over care in response to such a message. For us in the practice, it is nice to know that in times of very busy times, people can still get prompt advice about their health. This can prevent a lot of anxiety. By using Medicoo, we can better focus on the complex care questions."
Hybrid care to support primary care
Besides Medicoo, Medicinfo offers several hybrid care services to support primary care, both during the day and in collaboration with GP surgeries. Read more about Medicoo and Medicinfo's hybrid healthcare solutions.
