Kirkby PCN launches patient habit change service with Holly Health

Kirkby PCN launches patient habit change service with Holly Health

The Partnership

Holly Health is designed to empower individuals (especially those living with long term conditions) in their health and wellbeing journey. By offering personalised habit change programs, Holly Health helps to address the critical challenges of increasing patient self-management and reducing strain on GP services. Through an intuitive platform, Holly Health guides users in making small, sustainable lifestyle changes, promoting long-term health benefits, and aim to reduce the need for frequent GP consultations.

Kirkby PCN, serving a community of over 50,000 patients in Knowsley, NW England, recognised the potential in Holly Health’s approach to bolstering its healthcare provision. By integrating Holly Health’s services, Kirkby PCN aims to enhance community health and well-being, focusing on empowering individuals through self-management and alleviating the dependency on GPs for chronic and lifestyle-related health issues.

Signups and Baseline Population Health

The response to this partnership has been very positive, with over 1,400 patients across the five local practices embracing Holly Health’s digital platform so far in 2024. This strong uptake is a clear indication of the community’s readiness to engage with innovative health solutions that offer a more proactive approach to managing their well-being.

The service has generated interesting average insights into the lifestyle health of local service users, comparable with wider Holly Health UK population data:

These are some examples of the insights made available from a Holly Health PCN deployment, as you can see they are not the types of insights typically available in medical records and GP delivery.

Main Outcomes So Far
What is Holly Health’s impact so far?...Patients that started with low to medium baseline scores reported on average 10% improvement across the assessed health areas, including a 13% reduction in alcohol intake (on days they drank alcohol), plus fewer days drinking alcohol. Moderate exercise saw an average increase of 13%, and stress reduced by 10%! 

More health changes can be viewed in the below chart:

Especially exciting is the GP Appointment data. Self report data at baseline vs after 8 weeks of using Holly Health, shows that on average, people are booking fewer GP appointments. So far, the reduction is on average 0.22 appointments over 8 weeks, per patient (that used the service for 8+ weeks). This could translate to a potential reduction of 1.4 appointments per person, per year - a significant potential GP time saving when multiplied over hundreds or more people.

Hassan Argomandkhah, Clinical Director of Kirkby PCN, shared his enthusiasm for the project’s early outcomes. “We’re pleased to see strong uptake from our Holly Health deployment,” he stated. “The aggregated lifestyle health data shared with the Kirby PCN team has been insightful, and we’re already seeing positive early outcomes, including self-reported appointment bookings going down after starting to use Holly Health. We have also asked our social prescribers to actively encourage our patients to engage with the app via their smart devices. Small changes every day is what will make the real difference in the long term.”

This feedback underscores the impact of patient-centred technology in primary care. By facilitating daily, manageable changes in lifestyle and health practices, Holly Health is making a tangible difference in the lives of Kirkby PCN’s patients.

Supporting Local Projects

Looking beyond the immediate success of the habit coaching deployment, Holly Health and Kirkby PCN are setting their sights on further collaborative efforts. One such initiative is the Blood Pressure at Home project, which aims to assist patients who have received at-home blood pressure monitors. This project will focus on helping individuals gain confidence in using their devices and encourage consistent tracking of their blood pressure readings over time.

Such initiatives are crucial steps towards a more empowered and health-conscious community, demonstrating the potential for digital health solutions to complement traditional healthcare services effectively.

As the partnership continues to evolve and expand its reach, the potential for positive change is great. For each patient who embraces the power of small daily changes, a more proactive and preventive healthcare system of tomorrow becomes increasingly tangible.

Kirkby PCN and Holly Health’s partnership is just beginning. However, it's quickly becoming a powerful example of how healthcare providers and digital health platforms can work together to uplift communities, empowering patients to take charge of their health through accessible and engaging digital tools.