Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) and Babylon bring digital-first, value-based healthcare to over 55,000 people across Wolverhampton

LONDON and WOLVERHAMPTON, United Kingdom, Aug. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) and Babylon today announced they have extended their partnership to bring Babylon's value-based care service – Babylon 360 – to c.55,000 people across Wolverhampton. This collaboration builds on the existing partnership between  RWT and Babylon, with the aim of introducing an integrated and accessible digital-first healthcare experience for Wolverhampton residents.

Working closely with RWT on the rollout, Babylon will introduce Babylon 360 to the population covered by the RWT's own Primary Care Network (PCN) to empower people to stay healthy using Babylon's digital health tools, as well as care for them when they are sick. Babylon currently provides its digital-first, B360 services to members of health plans in New York, California and Missouri.

Babylon's B360 allows healthcare to be easily accessed by patients, while the advanced technology frees up medical professionals to focus on proactively predicting and managing patients to make healthcare more affordable for the NHS.  A recent peer-reviewed paper published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, found that members of Babylon's highly accessible NHS primary care service, Babylon GP at Hand, incurred between 15-35% lower acute hospital costs than the regional average.

RWT is a highly innovative, vertically-integrated organisation, with nine GP practices, three hospitals and over twenty community healthcare sites across Wolverhampton and Staffordshire.

Since the start of the pandemic, Babylon and RWT have worked together to extend their relationship, exploring routes to increase adoption of digital health tools and services. After 18 months, we have combined all of our learnings in order to build a more patient-centric, digital-first model for the people of Wolverhampton. Delivering improved health outcomes for patients and reducing costs, plus bringing value to RWT and patients alike. 

Trust Chief Executive Professor David Loughton CBE, said: "The partnership with Babylon is an exciting one for us as a Trust. The NHS has learned so much about the benefit of using digital platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic and we are excited to continue to develop this, in partnership with Babylon. This technology will enhance patient choice and give them greater control over their own health and wellbeing, supporting them to have their GP appointments at a time and location suitable for them."

Dr. Umang Patel, Managing Director Value Based Care (UK), Babylon said: "The experience of the pandemic has made the case for integrated care even stronger and has redoubled the government's determination to prioritise public health, focusing specifically on preventive healthcare. Joining up with the government agenda, we look to continue rolling out similar services like our value-based care model, Babylon 360, which aims to create a holistic, easily accessible and affordable healthcare option that promotes prevention over the cure."

Dr. Ali Parsa, CEO, Babylon, said: "We believe it is possible to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on Earth. Yet we are a long way away from that. There is a lot that needs to be learnt and this partnership with RWT is another step in allowing us to learn together how we can co-create a better model of care for all. We are honoured to have the opportunity to work with David and his brilliant team in RWT,  to deepen our joint services and extend it to a significant proportion of the population of Wolverhampton."

During the first phase of the rollout, the Babylon and RWT partnership will introduce new digital-first services to patients of RWT's nine GP practices. Through the Babylon app, those patients will be able to access their current GP practice book video appointments with their regular RWT GP. They will also have access to Babylon's digital health tools, such as its symptom checker.

Notes to Editors

About Babylon

Babylon is a leading, digital-first, value-based care company whose mission is to make high-quality healthcare accessible and affordable for everyone on Earth.

Babylon is reengineering healthcare, shifting the focus from sick care to preventative healthcare so that patients experience better health, and reduced costs. This is achieved by leveraging a highly scalable, digital-first platform combined with high quality, virtual clinical operations to provide all-in-one, personalized healthcare. We endeavour to keep patients at the peak of health and get them back on their feet as quickly as possible, all from their devices, with the aim to promote longer and healthier lives. When sick, Babylon provides assistance to navigate the health system, connecting patients digitally to the right clinician 24/7, at no additional cost.

Founded in 2013, we have since delivered millions of clinical consultations and AI interactions, with c.2m clinical consultations and c.3.9m AI interactions in 2020 alone. We work with governments, health providers and insurers across the globe, and support healthcare facilities from small local practices to large hospitals.

You can also visit www.babylonhealth.com/us.

About The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust is one of the largest acute and community providers in the West Midlands, having more than 850 beds on the New Cross site, 56 rehabilitation beds at West Park Hospital and 54 beds at Cannock Chase Hospital. RWT is the largest employer in Wolverhampton, the Trust employs more than 9,400 staff, covering more than 350 different roles. RWT provide services from the following locations:

• New Cross Hospital - secondary and tertiary services, maternity, Accident and Emergency, critical care and outpatients.
• West Park Hospital - rehabilitation inpatient and day care services, therapy services and outpatients.
• Cannock Chase Hospital - general surgery, orthopaedics, breast surgery, urology, dermatology/plastic surgery and medical day case investigations and treatment (including endoscopy, rheumatology and dermatology).
• More than 20 community sites - community services for children and adults, walk-in centres and therapy and rehabilitation services.
• Primary care - Nine GP practices have now joined with RWT and offer extended opening hours to patients.

SOURCE Babylon