BMI Healthcare enters digital partnership to improve access

Private hospitals group BMI Healthcare has partnered with virtual GP provider Livi to offer patients faster access to treatment.

The partnership will help reduce the pressures facing NHS surgeries which are offering non-critical face-to-face appointments that can be diagnosed via video consultations.

Patients will now have access to a GMC-certified Livi GP to arrange a referral to see a specialist consultant.

‘Our partnership with BMI will harness Livi technology and through access to our range of digital tools, patients will be able to gain referrals to specialists,’ said Simon Lucas, partnerships director at Livi.

Paul Manning, chief medical officer of BMI, added: ‘When patients have a medical complaint, they want to be seen quickly and they want the process to be convenient.

‘Our partnership with Livi will help us deliver on this, by minimising the need to visit a GP practice to get a referral, while at the same time supporting our NHS during this crisis by freeing up valuable resources for those who need to be seen in-person.’

Livi is the UK arm of European healthcare provider Kry, launched in 2015 and based in Stockholm, Sweden.

In January 2020, the digital healthcare provider raised US$155m in Series C funding to support its plans for further expansion in Europe, in one of the largest capital raises ever for an online video GP service.