Capita Launches New WebGuides to Provide Online Health Self-assessment and Medical Advice

BASINGSTOKE, England, Feb. 4, 2016 /CNW/ - Capita Healthcare Decisions has launched a new online product for patients and their carers - WebGuides, which provides healthcare guidance for all common symptoms and gives advice about what to do next.

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When combined with Capita's Decision Management System (DMS), WebGuides can be made available to patients and customers on an organisation's website, through apps or text message- giving them a convenient way of checking symptoms. With Capita's Open Application Programming Interface (API), wherever they are, and whatever device they may use, safe health advice can be at a patient's fingertips. The solution can be extended further to incorporate body maps, videos, directory of services and other content.

Dr Charles Young, chief medical officer at Capita Healthcare Decisions, said: "More and more of us are seeking health advice online. Our WebGuides provide clinically safe healthcare information, specifically written for patients and carers. Unlike other online symptom checkers, WebGuides does not simply present some information about a possible diagnosis. WebGuides gives direct and personalised advice about exactly what to do next for any common health complaint."

WebGuides is based on Capita Healthcare Decisions TeleGuides product, which has been used by a range of healthcare providers all over the world.

Dr Young continued: "We know WebGuides will be both safe and effective because they are based on our clinically validated TeleGuides tool. By providing patients and carers with the same type of information we already provide their clinicians, we are empowering patients to take a more active role in their own care, and reducing demand on busy clinical services."

WebGuides is ideal for governments, hospital networks, insurers and other healthcare groups, and can be adapted to meet the specific needs of any population taking into account regional health differences or differences in local care delivery services.

As an existing customer of Capita Healthcare Decisions, Dr Jan Einar Vaage, chief executive officer of Norsk Helse Telefon 24 (NHT24)* a private provider of health services to Norway and other Scandinavian countries, has reviewed Webguides in his capacity as an expert in health triage services. NHT24 will customise and localise the new content to enhance the service they can offer patients.

He said: "WebGuides will be a great step forward in empowering patients to take control of their own health through self-assessment, without compromising on care quality. We look forward to working with Capita to localise the new content for the Scandinavian market."

More information on WebGuides can be found on the Capita Healthcare Decisions website: http://capitahealthcaredecisions.com/products/webguides/

Note to editors: 

* NHT24 provides medical advice and health information to the Norwegian population over the phone and web, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

About Capita Healthcare Decisions  

We transform healthcare decision making. Our solutions support healthcare providers to make better decisions about their patients, and empower individuals to make better decisions about their own health and wellbeing. Over the past 16 years, our decision support software applications have been used by some of the world's leading healthcare providers and insurers to power over 85m patient transactions. Capita Healthcare Decisions brings together clinical expertise and Silicon Valley innovation to power decision support which delivers more for less and is underpinned by three principles: safe, connected, useful.  For more information go to http://www.capitahealthcaredecisions.com

SOURCE Capita Healthcare Decisions