Virtual tour to help demystify the patient journey

Company news

Jun 13, 2014

Patients in Birmingham are to be among the first in the country to be able to explore an NHS urgent care centre from the comfort of their own homes prior to an appointment, courtesy of a new Google Business View Virtual Tour.

Independent health and social care provider, Care UK, operates The Hill General Practice & Urgent Care Centre in Sparkhill, Birmingham, on behalf of the NHS. Care UK hopes the tour will help to demystify the patient journey and assist people to be better prepared for their appointments.

The virtual tour showcases the high quality facilities available to NHS patients at the centre in Stratford Road which is open seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm, including bank holidays. It provides all patients – both registered and unregistered – a wide range of services. These include health information, advice and treatment for a variety of minor illnesses and injuries. It also offers many other services, such as vaccinations and immunisations, contraception services, cervical screen services, advice on stopping smoking, asthma and diabetes management, and child health surveillance.

Service manager Sobia Hussain said: “Every patient is important to us and we understand that a visit for an investigation or treatment can sometimes be stressful. Our team works very hard to make sure that people are fully prepared for treatment. We believe this virtual tour is a natural extension to that familiarity process.

“Supporting patients to be as relaxed as possible before, during and after their treatment is a fundamental part of our work. I believe that by launching this virtual tour we are demonstrating our ongoing commitment to patient satisfaction and I hope that people will find it a useful tool prior to their appointment with us.

“By embracing new technology we are able to help the people we support and care for, as well as their families, to make informed choices about their health and social care provision.”

Care UK worked with Ideal Insight – a Google virtual tour specialist – to create the tour of The Hill General Practice & Urgent Care Centre. It can be accessed by visiting hillgp-bham.nhs.uk/take-look-inside