The relationship between customers and commerce has evolved rapidly in the last decade. If I want a burger, I can order through my device and someone will deliver it to my door within half an hour. If I want a new kitchen, an expert will listen to me online, virtually displaying what the end product can look like and, build it to my precise specification.
This development in the way customers and clients interact has been slower to emerge in other parts of our daily lives. If I have a health problem that’s preventing me from going to work and doing my job, my options will rarely have the urgency of an App-driven food delivery company and might lack any bespoke attention to exactly what is needed to get my life back on track.
That’s exactly why The BUSY Group has been pioneering a community clinic model in the UK. At the heart of a local community, our innovative approach reduces waiting times for clients and incorporates early intervention that adopts a holistic perspective and delivers work-focused goals.
Referrals to our community clinics can come from welfare to work providers, insurance companies or private enquiries. Customers get a detailed holistic assessment that can lead to physiotherapy, occupational health support or mental health counselling. Treatment can be tailored to a specific number of sessions to meet a referring agency’s needs, but the resulting patient pathway will always have a back to work focus and incorporate a detailed recovery or rehabilitation programme for the client that reflects their holistic assessment. From our experience 82 percent of the people we have supported, who have completed an occupational health assessment, have shown a positive increase in their life, work and health ratings.
This holistic approach is underpinned by the dedicated Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme we deliver to our clinical staff which draws on our longstanding occupational health expertise, and by the senior clinician role we deploy, to ensure our focus is on the person and their working life. It’s an approach that the National Health Service (NHS) and private practice often struggle to replicate because of their focus on the immediate medical problem rather than the person and their life situation. For example, we’ll always think not just about a presenting injury or impairment but also about how it impacts on work and what kind of mitigations might be possible.
We’ve developed the community clinic concept to be a sustainable business model that draws on insurance company clients and private customers as well as referrals from employment sector providers. At the front end, this is supported by a professional contact centre and a fast, clear online booking portal. Having pioneered our approach in a series of Welsh communities and our delivery of pop-up versions in London as part of Ingeus’s Work and Health Programme delivery, our community clinic model is ready to be rolled out as part of the next generation of welfare to work delivery solutions across the country.
Learn more about the services and support currently being offered by Health 2 Employment and OH One, both part of The BUSY Group, an international not-for-profit organisation delivering solutions for health, employment, training and education.