Private healthcare to go digital, Doctorlink founder says

Doctorlink is available to 9.75 million NHS patients at 996 GP practices in England, making it the leading provider of online Symptom Assessment to the NHS.

We have a burning issue in healthcare, which is why we need digital platforms,

Gardner said, adding that other industries are not facing such urgent issues and that health providers have serious responsibility as they are involved in restoring the health of patients.

There is a variety of very different models in digital healthcare, Gardner pointed out. Some provide remote consultation or offer help for known or even unknown conditions, while others provide medial attendance management, transport medicine or offer wellness services. Then there are those who provide all of the above in a single platform, like Doctorlink, Gardner said.

As for the key challenges the private healthcare industry faces, he mentioned increasing cost of services, shortage of labour and continuously increasing demand.

According to Gardner, the reason digital healthcare has not taken off globally is that there are few unified platforms where patients and doctors can find each other. In his view, patients would prefer using a single platform for all health-related problems.