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GP at Hand: patients are less sick than others but use services more, evaluation finds

BMJ 2019; 365 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l2333 (Published 24 May 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;365:l2333
  1. Gareth Iacobucci
  1. The BMJ

Patients registered with Babylon’s digital service GP at Hand may be using it “more than would be expected” given their age and health status, an independent evaluation of the service has concluded.

The much delayed evaluation report from Ipsos MORI,1 which was finally presented on 23 May to Hammersmith and Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group, which holds the contract for the service, said that patients registered with GP at Hand had a higher annual rate of consultations than shown in national data.

The evaluation, produced in partnership with York Health Economics Consortium and with advisory input from Chris Salisbury, professor in primary care health at the University of Bristol, said it was unclear whether the high rate of use was due to the service’s accessibility and whether it was linked to “unmet need or supply-induced demand.”

The evaluation concluded that it “has not been able to fully address whether the [GP at Hand] model is affordable and sustainable.”

It added that the model’s benefits would not be replicable on a wider scale without “considerable …

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