Digital health provider forges new partnerships during pandemic

The UK arm of digital healthcare provider Livi has announced three partnerships with healthcare providers, meaning 1 million people in the Midlands and North of England can access Livi's services. 

Now available in five of the seven major regions in England, demand for Livi’s services has grown, with total appointments increasing 534% between March 2019 and March 2020 in the UK.

The Coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the critical need for access to high-quality and safe digital healthcare, in particular for vulnerable patients and those with chronic health conditions. 

The North East of England is one of the areas which is currently most severely impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak, with the highest number of cases per 100,000 people of any region in England, as of the beginning of June. 

As well as three new partnerships, Livi has expanded existing agreements to meet increased during the Coronavirus outbreak. Working with the NICS Federation in Surrey and South Downs Health and Care in Sussex, Livi doubled patient volumes month-on-month. In Birmingham, Livi worked with Our Health Partnership to significantly extend the opening hours of the service.

Juliet Bauer, managing director, Livi said: “At Livi, we firmly believe that access to healthcare should be equitable and not dependent on someone’s background, or where they live. The reality is that this is not always the case, so we are incredibly proud of our new expansive partnerships, extending access to digital healthcare to 1 million patients across the north of England.

“The Coronavirus outbreak has shown how vital access to high-quality digital healthcare truly is, in particular for vulnerable communities, and we are pleased to be partnering with three brilliant organisations to continue expanding our services across the country. In particular, our partnership with City Health Care Partnership will focus on offering patients vital mental health support.”

City Health Care Partnership CIC (CHCP) provides a wide range of health and care services across Hull, the East Riding of Yorkshire, Knowsley, Wigan and St Helens. CHCP is a co-owned 'for better profit' organisation, investing profits into services, colleagues and local communities.

OneMedicalGroup is a health and wellbeing company which works within the NHS across Yorkshire. South and East Leeds (SEL) is a federation of 30 GP practices across the area. 

William Dawson, chief executive officer, OneMedicalGroup said: “We are excited to be working with Livi to help improve lives across the nation, starting in Leeds. We operate nationally as an NHS primary and urgent provider at scale, healthcare estate partner and as a system transformation partner. We believe collaboration is one of our greatest strengths and is the key to the future of healthcare. We see Livi becoming a great collaborative partner, whose ambitions, culture and values match our own.

"Working with Livi will create a greater opportunity to deliver the innovative care models of the future.”