Medical website gives doctors and the general public fast access to accurate information
Elly Yates-Roberts |
Medical website Patient.Info is using Microsoft Azure to reduce the ever-increasing demand on general practitioners (GPs). It gives doctors and the general public fast access to accurate information that has been written and peer-reviewed by healthcare professionals.
“The objective is to empower people to make informed choices,” said Jason Keane, chief executive of Patient.Info. “That’s about understanding the patient’s needs and offering them great content so they can manage their own care. It’s getting patients to the services they need. Patient.Info plays a critical role in not only being able to give people the ability to make informed choices, because the content is written and peer reviewed by GPs, but it makes the entire experience very safe and secure in one tool.”
Users must share personal information on the website in order to receive customised care advice. As such, Keane and clinical director Sarah Jarvis moved the website onto Microsoft Azure to ensure the safety and security of this information. They also use Power BI to understand the information held in their data lake.
“Our users need to have complete confidence in what we’re doing,” said Keane. “We work with Microsoft because we know all of the data is in a very safe and secure environment. It’s the best technology out there to really make sure that all of that information is not only safe and secure but meets UK and EU law.”
The scalability of Azure also enables Patient.Info to cope with sudden surges in demand, such as in winter when the flu is more prevalent.
The move to the cloud is also helping doctors. With an average appointment time of just nine minutes, doctors need to find medical resources fast to help their patients.
“Around 60% of the GPs in the country have access to the information on Patient.Info directly within their consulting systems, which they can trust completely because it was written by their peers and it’s been peer reviewed,” said Jarvis. “They can read it on their screen while the patient is in the consultation. I’ve used Patient.Info for 20 years and it is such an invaluable part of my working life. A patient came in recently complaining of chest pain, shortness of breath and dizziness, and was convinced they were dying. I could immediately bring up the page on panic attacks, go through it with them and say, look at these symptoms, you’re having panic attacks.”