Take control of your health

15th May 2016

Stockport’s GPs have put their weight behind a local campaign to empower patients to take more control over their own health by using digital technology.

The majority of people in the borough have access to, and use, computers, tablets or smart phones and clinicians want to tap in to this growing trend.

Thousands of people in Stockport have already downloaded the Stockport Health & Care Finder app and are using it to get a better understanding of how to use and access services.

The app gives users rapid and easy access to up-to-date local health and social care information including a directory of pharmacies, GPs, hospitals, clinics, care homes and other services.

At a touch of a button users can find the services that are nearest to them at any time. For example, if you’re trying to find a late night chemist, the app will automatically sort out which are the closest to you and then give you the opening hours, address and contact details.

You can also set up favourites for faster access to the services you’re interested in and dial them directly from your app.

There are links on it to videos about how best to take care of yourself if you are ill and how to prevent ill health. The app can also be used to send out reminders about health checks and screening entitlements.

If you have a compatible Android or Apple device you can download the new Stockport Health & Care Finder app by going to your app store and searching for it by name.

But it’s not just the app that is at hand to make life easier, there is also Patient Online which enables people, at the touch of a button, to make an appointment with their family doctor

All Stockport GPs have services online so, from the convenience of their own home, patients can book an appointment, order repeat prescriptions and look at a summary of their medical records online.

Digital technology changed the way our relationships work in other areas of our life, like managing our finances or shopping, and so it should deliver a more convenient, modern, personal and efficient service with our GPs.

The online service is accessible 24/7 and therefore allows patients to book appointments or order repeat prescriptions at a time convenient to them. This saves both the patient and the practice time.

To register for the online services patients need to call in at their practice with some ID and their email address, and they will be given a password to login to their service.

However GP practices are aware that not everyone is comfortable with new technology so the online service is offered in addition to the traditional telephone and face-to-face means of interacting with a practice.

Doctor Adam Firth, a GP based in Heavily, said: “Over the past few years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people who have access to computers and mobile devices.

“We use them for everything from making calls and sending messages to accessing the most up to date news and even ordering our weekly shopping

“Perhaps going online on a computer, smartphone or tablet to manage our health is not the first thing that springs to mind but we want to use every tool we can to help people access the care that they need and stay well

“It is so convenient to use the technology we have at our fingertips to navigate the services in Stockport and we are certain people will find Patient Online and the app very useful.”

People are also being encouraged to use the official website of the NHS – NHS Choices – to check out lots of useful health information.

By going to www.nhs.uk patients can find trusted information on hundreds of health conditions including the symptoms, how to treat them and also more importantly how to prevent them.

The site also contains a service directory which enables patients to find and compare health and social care services across England.

NHS Choices also allows people to rate services, including GP practices, via the Friends and Family test and see how others have rated them.

So take more control of your own health – from the comfort of your sofa!