The challenge
As part of the national Primary Care Access Recovery Plan, NECS was commissioned to support GP practices with mainly increasing utilisation of the NHS App, as well as increasing awareness of the App and its functionalities.
Alex Mills, Project Manager at NECS, who led on the project, chose to incorporate a means to promote the App, that would relieve some of the responsibility on GP practices. Alex and the project team considered the impact of engaging local Universities to seek opportunities to promote the NHS App amongst students and younger people, and as an outcome of discussions, Alex reached out to all the local Universities across the North-East.
Our response
Owen Seth, Faith Facilities and Operations Manager, Student Health and Wellbeing Service at Newcastle University, agreed to collaborate with the team in promoting the NHS App.
The University has a Student Health and Wellbeing programme for its students and actively supports them to register with a GP practice as part of its enrolment services.
Owen helped facilitate access to the University’s campus, and a stall in an area with a large footfall was set up. Alongside Owen, Alex attended Newcastle University’s Philip Robinson Library with an NHS App banner, funding for which was provided by the NENC ICS Digital Inclusion team. The intention was to promote the App and engage with students, faculty and additional stakeholders in the University, as they made their way into the library.
Owen stated that the University has a keen interest in promoting health services to its students and is keen to collaborate further with the NHS.
Outcomes
Carrying out engagement and promotion sessions with Newcastle University for the NHS App, presented an invaluable opportunity to enhance student patient involvement in their healthcare journey.
Chatting with students and faculty, Alex and Owen established that most people were aware of the NHS App and had signed up to it, however, they weren’t fully aware of all the functionalities available. On multiple occasions, Alex explained that the App can provide access to their health record, something which students who may travel the world after their studies might find handy, should they need their health information abroad.
By increasing the awareness of the NHS App, these sessions empower students to take ownership and control of their health. In addition, promoting the App improves their patient experience by enabling them to access their health records online at a time that suits them, offering convenience and reducing the need for traditional methods of contact with their GP practice.
An additional outcome of this engagement has been an increase to the NENC ICB and NECS stakeholder matrix. Collaborating with Newcastle University will pave the way for future NHS initiatives, allowing access to the University’s campus for fares and further engagement, to work with the younger population in managing their health.
“We work annually with the registration and arrival teams to make sure instructions on how register with a GP are provided pre-arrival for incoming students.
Upon arrival (registration week) in September we provide a health fair event that usually spans a week. During this event we invite external wellbeing stakeholders to host stalls for students to interact with, with the focus being on registering with a GP. Involve North East assisted us with this and provide points of contact on each day to help troubleshoot any registration queries. In the past we have also hired student workers to distribute GP registration promo cards around campus.
Once the initial registration week has finished, we work with the Student Life Team to prepare messaging for all registered students, encouraging them to register with a GP locally if they are now living in the area.
In January we provide a similar, yet smaller, level of GP registration support for an international arrival event, which supports our international student cohort.
Our messaging is repeated throughout the year via different newsletters and updates, and is replicated and shared by the social media teams, across campus-wide digital displays. We also have various pop-ups throughout the year at key footfall areas across campus.”