Meet Juliet Bauer, UK Managing Director of Livi

What Is Digital Healthcare and How Is It Beneficial?

Technology has revolutionised industries from finance to entertainment, and healthcare is no different. Done well, digital can transform patients’ experience, improve access to high-quality healthcare, and give clinicians more time to spend seeing patients.

Tell Us About Livi

Livi offers a suite of digital solutions that aim to help not only patients, but clinicians and health systems too. Our core offer is digital GP appointments via video, giving patients an easy and convenient way to access healthcare when, and where they need it.
Through partnerships with the NHS, we enable more than five million people to see GPs and other health professionals by video. Our GPs can provide medical advice, prescriptions, fit notes and referrals to further NHS services. In areas without an NHS partnership, patients can access Livi’s GPs on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Our NHS partners can use Livi to add capacity to local or regional health systems, taking pressure off hard-pressed GPs – we work with the NHS commissioners at every level to improve access, and have recently expanded into urgent care. We are proud to be the first and only digital healthcare provider to be rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), England’s independent regulator of health and social care services in June 2021.

We also offer digital tools for GP practices, including our MJog batch messaging system which gives practices a simple and convenient way to communicate with patients via text or smart message, either on an individual basis or through interactive digital campaigns. MJog was instrumental during the coronavirus vaccine rollout, and is currently playing a key role in the flu vaccination campaign.

How Important Has Technology Been During The COVID-19 Pandemic?

The pandemic underpinned a quiet revolution in how practices communicate and consult with patients, from vaccination reminders to developing digital GP services. Digital healthcare allowed patients to access care while restrictions on physical appointments were in place, but we’ve seen sustained demand since restrictions were eased – people value both the convenience and ease of access digital services offer.

And last year GP practices used  our MJog platform  to send more than 200 million messages for COVID-19 and flu vaccination appointments and reminders, reaching more than 32 million patients at 67% of UK practices.
What are Livi’s future plans for offering more digital services?

Our industry leading development team is continuing to enhance the suite of digital healthcare solutions we provide both patients and practices. We’re developing tools to support mental health treatment, including Internet Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (ICBT).

And building on the acquisition of MJog in October last year, we recently acquired VIX Digital which provides GP practices with accessible, easy-to-use websites that are integrated with NHS systems, aligned with NHS.UK standards, and capable of handling online transactions. VIX Digital websites are patient-first and designed to open a digital front door to the NHS.

What Was Your Personal Motivation For Working In Digital Healthcare?

I credit the NHS for saving mine and my daughter Sophie’s life in 2015, after my second pregnancy was premature. I was rushed to hospital. Sophie and I underwent life-saving operations, having had three years of operations, bed rest, 14 A&E visits and nine emergency ambulances. I’m so grateful to the doctors and nurses who looked after us at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. My job allows me to give back.

I come from a digital background. I’m excited about how technology can be used to solve some of our most pressing healthcare challenges, and working in digital healthcare allows me to connect these two passions and make me feel I am making a difference.