As we approach the start of UK springtime we are bolstered from winter by notions of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal and resurrection. What a fitting way to enter such a period of positivity than International Women’s Day (IWD) on the 8th of March. With this year’s theme being #InspireInclusion we can reflect on what this means for each and every one of us and how we can work together to improve inclusivity.
We all have a responsibility to address the stereotypes that exist and that hold back our society from flourishing and developing. There are practical ways that organisations can support the efforts to promote and progress to #InspireInclusivity by developing routes to accessing opportunities, services and information that would otherwise experience low uptake from under-represented cohorts.
“Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.”
Verna Myers, Vice President of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix
The Women’s Health Strategy for England outlines a six-point plan for transformational change, which includes ensuring women’s voices are heard, improving access to services, and addressing disparities in outcomes amongst women. It also emphasises the importance of better information and education, understanding the impact of women’s health in the workplace, and supporting more research and data.
With the UK Government having invested £250mil in funding to create Women’s Health Hubs, there is an exciting opportunity to accelerate plans with either digital, bricks and mortar or blended solutions to improve access. With this support, ambitious efforts are being launched to tackle the gaps in access that add to the inequity of care for women.
Discover EBO’s Digital Women’s Health Hub
Here at EBO, we’re incredibly excited and honoured to be working with NHS and Integrated Care stakeholders to develop and deploy solutions that tackle inequality and support inclusivity for Women’s Health Services. Through the use of Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation and Machine Learning we are providing a communication channel that reduces the frustrations of traditional channels such as telephone, mailing and SMS and allows citizens to access services 24/7, in their preferred language and on their platform of choice. This is the “Digital Women’s Health Hub“.
By providing a trusted access point for information and signposting that is swift and easy to use, we meet the gaze of search engine and social media misinformation and provide the health sector with a much-needed injection of competitive advantage and credibility over unqualified, generic or non-applicable advice. If we break down the factors that exacerbate the difficulties of ease of access for patients, and the provision of the necessary services we arrive at the following challenges:
- Diverse patient demographic with inherent barriers to care access
- Digital solutions that often lead to traditional communication channels (phone, forms and letters)
- Areas of deprivation and health inequalities
- Communities spread over a large geographic area
- Often fragmented service delivery framework, comprising NHS, private and charitable organisations
- Operational barriers to recruitment and retention of suitably qualified staff that is sufficient in numbers to have impact
- The continuing dissemination, for example via social media, of inaccurate information.
With this complexity, organisations can be forgiven for believing that a complex problem requires a complex solution. However, here are EBO, we believe that simplicity, particularly for the user is key to success. With between 85% and 100% of our clients enjoying their experience of using their Virtual Assistant we can be confident that we’re improving the patient experience, whatever the challenge.
If you would like to know more of the work we’re doing to improve access to women’s services visit us at Contact EBO and meanwhile, let’s join the celebrations on the 8th of March and #InspireInclusion.
