Developments coming soon at Health Diagnostics

Over the coming months, the teams at Heath Diagnostics will be driving forward a number of developments in our products and services. In this blog post, we’ll be giving you a taster of the evolution due to take place. So what can you expect to see?

A new website and online learning hub

Www.healthdiagnostics.co.uk is currently undergoing a substantial re-design and update. With the existing website having been up for a number of years, we felt it was about time we revamped it to reflect how we're responding to the current priorities of public health bodies across the UK.

The new site will have two sections: a front and back end. The public-facing front end will offer visitors a full and concise overview of what we do and our approach to promoting health and wellbeing. We’ll be documenting our involvement in research that’s helping to establish the evidence base for conducting population health checks and all the latest news and views will be shared through our soon-to-be updated blog.

For those that use Health Options® software or have been on a Health Diagnostics training course, we’re creating a comprehensive online learning hub. Health Check providers will be able to use the learning hub for training and support purposes and also to improve their overall grasp of the UK’s public health agenda. The section will house a range of videos, documents and useful links specifically designed for those delivering and commissioning health check programmes. Users will also be able to get immediate online support through instant messaging and remote desktop facilities.

We’re really excited to go live with the new website; look out for it towards the end of February where we’ll be launching it at the NHS Health Check national conference.

Attendance at the NHS Health Check national conference 

On the 26^th February a team from Health Diagnostics will travel to Leeds Royal Armouries to attend Public Health England’s annual NHS Health Check conference. With this year’s theme being ‘Improvement through Collaboration’, we’ll be taking the time to show how we’ve worked with both public and private sector organisations to create an integrated end-to-end solution for delivering and managing NHS Health Check programmes. 

In addition to launching the new website at the conference, we’ll also be distributing the latest issue of NHS Health Check News. Following on from the success of the previous issue (which is available online), the new issue will lead with a case study on Wokingham Borough Council’s innovative new service delivery model. Articles on brief Motivational Interviewing, the emerging evidence base and a case study on how Health Options® has improved delivery at a GP practice will all feature. In addition to being available in hard copy at the conference, you’ll be able to access the new edition online via issuu.com.

Release of our Call and Recall module

Having run a successful pilot with Durham County Council, our Call and Recall module is now being made available for general release. The module works through Health Options® to allow GP practices to risk stratify and invite an eligible cohort of patients for a health check.

The ability to invite an identified cohort has, for some time, been a priority for public health leads involved in running NHS Health Check programmes. When our partners requested that we come up with a solution that would allow them to perform the process through our software, we got to work devising a mechanism to do precisely that.

The module that’s the result of this development not only allows for the generation of targeted invites, but it’s also able to seamlessly pull all relevant patient data into Health Options® in preparation for a health check. GPs are therefore saved valuable time due to there being no need to manually re-key any data. The potential for human error is also eliminated from the administrative process.

In short, Health Diagnostics can now offer a unique solution that allows councils and providers to find the cohort, invite the patients, deliver a health check, and transfer all results to patient records. 

We’re sponsoring Berkshire’s Inspiration and Participation Awards

On 6^th February sporting heroes, coaches and volunteers will be honoured at the third annual Berkshire Inspiration and Participation Awards evening at the Blue Mountain Gold Club, Binfield. The awards evening recognises the vital contribution that local people make towards inspiring others to take up physical activity as well as individual and team excellence in sport. Olympic gold medalist rower Katherine Copeland is due to speak as special guest at the event.

This year Health Diagnostics will be sponsoring the Lifetime Achievement Award. In the words of Julie Evason, MD of Health Diagnostics, ‘we’re delighted to be sponsoring this award. As a company that have maintained a long-standing commitment to promoting cardiovascular health, we’re full of admiration for the individuals that work tirelessly in their own communities to empower people to lead more active lifestyles.

With all this on the horizon it's set to be an exciting start to 2015. As usual, you'll be able to keep up with everything we're up to via our twitter and blog.