Simple

Finding Health Services on your smartphone - Start Small with quick, agile steps

The proposal to create a smartphone app that provides information on the physical locations of public hospitals, pharmacies, emergency departments, and general practitioners across a state/states/country or group of countries has several benefits:

1. Improved Accessibility to Healthcare

- Quick Access: Users can quickly find nearby health services, reducing the time taken in emergencies or urgent situations.

Opening Hours: Information on opening hours helps people plan their visits and ensure they go when the facilities are open.

2. Enhanced Public Health Outcomes

- Timely Care: Faster access to healthcare services can lead to timely medical interventions, potentially saving lives and improving health outcomes.

- Preventative Care: Easy access to general practitioners can encourage regular check-ups and preventive care, reducing the overall burden on emergency services.

3. Streamlined Healthcare Navigation

- Comprehensive Information: Providing contact details, available facilities, and other relevant information in one app simplifies finding the right healthcare provider.

- Geolocation: Integration with GPS allows users to navigate directly to their chosen healthcare facility (already happens in Australia for the last 10 years)

4. Increased Efficiency for Healthcare Systems

- Optimized Resource Allocation: By tracking the flow of patients, health authorities can better allocate resources where they are needed most.

- Reduced Overcrowding: Providing information on less crowded or alternative healthcare providers can help distribute patient load more evenly.

5. Cross-border Healthcare Facilitation

Tourist Assistance: Tourists or individuals travelling within the EU, for example, can easily find healthcare services, enhancing their safety and experience.

- Emergency Coordination: Individuals can quickly find the nearest suitable healthcare facility in cross-border emergencies.

6. Enhanced Public Awareness

- Health Education: The app can include educational resources on common health issues, preventive measures, and when to seek medical help.

- Public Announcements: Authorities can use the app to disseminate important health alerts and information.

7. Data-Driven Decision Making

- Health Analytics: Aggregated data from the app can provide valuable insights into healthcare utilisation patterns, helping policymakers make informed decisions.

- Predictive Analytics: Predictive models can be developed to anticipate healthcare needs and manage public health crises effectively.

Example from Australia

In Australia, the integration of a Single Source of Truth solution, namely the National Health Services Directory that includes information on location, opening hours, contact details, and facilities has proven beneficial by providing:

- Consistency: A unified database ensures that all information is up-to-date and accurate.

- Efficiency: Healthcare providers can update their details in one place, streamlining administrative processes.

Conclusion

Implementing such a system across a country (or group) could significantly enhance public health accessibility, improve patient outcomes, streamline healthcare navigation, and provide valuable data for healthcare planning and crisis management. Given its potential to improve healthcare delivery and patient satisfaction, this proposal I would like to thing would likely garner interest from multiple countries.

This provides the foundation block for Digital Health as demonstrated in Australia

DISCLAIMER - I have no association with the organisation running these solutions since July 2012; I am responsible for getting all eight (8) State and Territory governments, the Federal Government and significant national professional health bodies to adopt the Victorian Human Services Directory I previously successfully project managed. It has become a part of Australia's foundational building blocks of digital health infrastructure, and I assisted with the National Business Case. And a Subject Matter Expert (SME)