The Challenge
The NHS is under constant pressure to provide better care for an ageing population, growing long-term conditions, and rising mental health challenges—all within tightening budgets. Primary Care Networks (PCNs), Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), and NHS Trusts are seeking scalable, cost-effective solutions that empower patients to self-manage their health and reduce the burden on clinical services.
One key area of concern is the sheer scale of preventable long-term conditions:
- Up to 40% of GP appointments involve a mental health component (King’s Fund).
- Over 50% of people aged 60+ have multiple long-term conditions (NHS).
- £72 billion (40% of NHS costs) is spent annually treating preventable conditions.
- 60-70% of GP visits stem from lifestyle-related causes (NHS).
A Solution: Digital Coaching with Holly Health
Holly Health offers a scalable, cost-effective, and evidence-based digital coaching platform that helps patients build sustainable habits around exercise, sleep, mental health, and nutrition.
- Backed by the NHS Innovation Accelerator and featured in the NHS Sinker Review.
- Already deployed in 200+ GP practices across England, Scotland, and Wales.
- Uses fully digital personalised coaching to support thousands of patients simultaneously.
- Can be integrated with PCN and ICB-level analytics for tracking health outcomes and cost savings.
- Available on almost any smartphone or tablet (>94% of the population with device access), and designed with those less confident with technology in mind. There is also a support option for people without a smartphone.
Unique Approach and Abilities
Digital coaching via Holly Health offers:
- Population scale deployments at very low cost per user (vs 1 by 1 referral, high cost per user)
- Chronic condition agnostic support (vs traditional condition specific)
- Tech driven personalisation (vs human for personalisation)
- Focus on mental health alongside physical (vs the usual silos)
Modern technology (on the patient mobile technology side, and backend algorithm side), and modern tech driven psychological approaches enable this shift. Now it’s the turn of health systems to make the most of its availability.
Holly Health Return on Investment: 1 PCN Example
Holly Health Costs
The Holly Health cost was £0.17 per member of the population per year, for the Kirkby PCN deployment, at a total cost of £9360+VAT. Based on around 1921 users from the PCN so far, that’s £4.87 per user, per year.
Within this, any adult patient in the PCN can access:
- Initial behavioural health check & tailored ‘health snapshot chart’
- Personalised habit recommendations and habit management infrastructure
- Daily coaching via mobile app for 12 months
- 24/7 access to in-the-moment support including chat flows, videos, articles, challenges
Also included, clinicians receive:
- Aggregated data insights (into local behavioural health issues and health changes)
- The ability to drive local campaigns to more people such as blood pressure management
GP Appointments Reductions
This deployment saw 1921 patient signups in 8 months. We can therefore expect at least 2000 signups during 12 months.
The survey responses data shows an average reduction in annual GP appointments of 1.43 fewer GPs appointments per person, in 8+ week users.
1.43 x £56 (value of 1 GP appointment) is £81.76, so estimated GP appointment saving per each 8+ week user is £81.76 per year.
We can estimate that a minimum of ¼ signed up users achieve this average GP appointment reduction outcome (based on Holly Health engagement and survey data), which would be 500 people x £81.76 = Potential value of £40,880.
From an ROI perspective, that would be 4x the annual service cost.
The same approach applied to an ICB wide deployment (spanning 1 million patients, and costing £140,000) would result in a potential ROI of 4.37x based on GP appointments alone, with a potential saving of £613,200.
Get in touch with us to learn more about our analysis methodologies, and how this could look in your region - [email protected].
Beyond GP Time Savings: The Wider Financial Impact
Holly Health not only reduces GP appointments but also drives broader healthcare savings:
1. Increased Physical Activity
- 38% average increase in moderate exercise levels in just 8 weeks (in app users who started with low to medium exercise).
- Estimated healthcare cost savings of £500 per patient experiencing this improvement (based on review of long term study data).
- Total exercise-driven savings potential: £57,000 per year (in Kirkby PCN alone).
2. Mental Wellbeing & Sleep Improvements
- Improvements in depression, anxiety, and sleep quality.
- Estimated £500 annual saving per patient experiencing significant improvements (based on review of long term study data).
- Total mental wellbeing-driven savings potential: £97,500 per year (in Kirkby PCN alone).
3. Total Wider Healthcare System Savings
- Combined exercise and mental wellbeing savings: £154,500.
- Total ROI: 16.5x based on healthcare cost reductions alone.
A Scalable Model: ICB-Level Impact
Applying the same model across an ICB with 1 million patients could generate £3.09 million in annual savings, resulting in an ROI of 20x.
Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) Impact
The QALYs (quality adjusted life years) measure, looks at whether an intervention helps to extend years of life in good health, and calculates the potential value of the improvement. The value is usually based on system wide cost reductions, as a result of better health for longer.
The QALYs questionnaire looks at a number of quality of life areas:
- Mobily
- Self care
- Ability to carry out usual activities
- Pain
- Anxiety/Mental wellbeing
- Personal health rating
Holly Health improves patient quality of life, contributing to extended years of good health. Preliminary analysis suggests:
- PCN-level ROI (2,000 users): 21.6x.
- ICB-level ROI (30,000 users): 34.7x.
- Potential value of QALY improvement alone in an ICB deployment: Over £3.6 million annually.
Get in touch with us to learn more about our analysis methodologies, and how this could look in your region - [email protected].
Cost-Effectiveness vs. Traditional Approaches
Holly Health delivers outcomes at a fraction of the cost of traditional NHS services:
- 6x cheaper than using GP time for lifestyle intervention (£10,000 vs. £60,000 per PCN).
- 18x cheaper per patient than NHS Health & Wellbeing Coaches (£5 vs. £93 per patient).
- Can support 4x more patients per year than a single NHS health coach - great as an add on support to human coaching services to increase efficiency.
Get in touch with us to learn more about our analysis methodologies, and how this could look in your region - [email protected].
A Proven & Scalable Solution
Holly Health has been rigorously tested and widely validated:
- 4.5/5 average rating from over 800 app reviews.
- Thousands of hours of user research via Innovate UK-backed projects.
- 90% ORCHA rating (top 2% of NHS-approved digital health tools).
- Featured in an NHS Digital Blueprint & the NHS England Sinker Report.
- Backed by the NHS Innovation Accelerator.
Why NHS Commissioners Should Act Now
Holly Health provides an opportunity to dramatically cut costs, free up clinician time, and empower patients with evidence-based digital coaching.
By commissioning Holly Health at an ICB-wide scale, NHS leaders can drive millions in annual savings, improve patient outcomes, and future-proof primary care for the next decade.
For more information, visit www.hollyhealth.io or contact [email protected] to explore a deployment for your region.
