The Spanish health system has been going through great operational difficulties for several years, above all due to to the long waiting lists there is to undergo an intervention, something that was aggravated by the pandemic. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, the number of patients on the waiting list at the end of last year exceeded 700,000 people, while the national average for surgery is 123 days.
CM.com, a company specialized in conversational commerce, comments that technology could be the key to reduce these endless waits, specifically a commonly used application such as WhatsApp. In this way, the company points out five ways in which this application can help the health sector to get out of this jam.
Appointment request
It is now possible to request appointments with the GP by phone, as usual, and through a specific mobile application. The advantage of WhatsApp is that it is an app that used by 89.5% of Spaniards in their day-to-day, so it would make it much easier for the average citizen to be able to carry out this management also through their preferred messaging channel, especially for those people less familiar with the advances that digitization is bringing, but who have already adopted WhatsApp as another channel to communicate.
Prescription Renewal
Many patients have to visit the health center periodically to renew their prescriptions, as they suffer from chronic diseases or need long-term treatment. Although the telephone consultation is already normalized, which avoids the trip to the center, the doctor must continue to occupy part of his day in this task, which could be automated to save time. Some communities have applications through which it is possible request the renewal of your prescriptions, but again WhatsApp would make this process much easier, making it easier for citizens and allowing the administration to save time and reduce waiting times for appointments.
Basic health consultations
Thanks to artificial intelligence, it is possible to offer a first point of primary attention with WhatsApp Business through a chatbot. Thus, it would be possible to make a first screening in which the simplest cases that do not require a physical examination could be resolved, as is already being done manually over the telephone. In this way, only the cases that really require their intervention would be referred to the doctor, which would help to relieve their day-to-day life. Also, in an emergency, it could even provide remote assistance in first aid situations. In addition, it has the advantage of being able to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Sending documents
Digitization has made all that great accumulation of documents that are generated, reports, results, X-rays… much easier to manage. Thus, WhatsApp Business allows patients and doctors to exchange documents, photos or even videos, thus facilitating their conversation and greatly enriching it. Among other things, the doctor can use this channel to send the patient the results of their latest tests, while the patient can send the doctor, for example, a photograph of some type of skin rash that may have appeared.
Send notifications
WhatsApp Business is a perfect channel for the administration to give information to the user and he quickly receives it in the palm of his hand. Thus, it is possible to offer information on pharmacy or health center hours, send reminder notifications for appointments or interventions, among many other issues. For example, given its penetration among the Spanish population, it could be a wonderful tool to inform the population in the event of a pandemic, capable of quickly resolving any type of doubt that may arise in an automated way.
“Technology is key so that sectors such as health, so punished in recent years, can streamline their processes and offer the best possible service to citizens”points Pablo de Mier PrietoCountry Manager for Spain at CM.com, who adds: “What better way is there to rely on technology than to offer facilities and new options to Spaniards through a channel as familiar and as present in their daily lives as WhatsApp. In addition, the advantages for the administration itself are very clear, since it allows health workers to save time that they can dedicate to the most important cases, also reducing the long waits that we have been suffering for a long time for any process”.
