A new app designed to deliver doctors to patients’ doors
GPDQ is a new private healthcare app, which enables patients in central London to order a doctor to their door within 90 minutes.
It’s no longer only restaurant food and cabbies that smartphone users can order to their door – a new doctor “delivery service” app has been designed, which allows patients to request a general practitioner to arrive at their home within an hour and a half.
GPDQ – GP Delivered Quickly – is a start-up company, founded by NHS and private healthcare GP Dr Anshumen Bhagat, with the aim of creating a “more accessible and affordable private primary care solution”.
Patients are able to request a GP to arrive at any given location from Monday – Sunday, 8am – 11pm within an average of 90 minutes, for appointments and prescriptions. Appointments start at £120 for a 25-minute consultation, and go up in price if patients want extra time or to use the system’s two-hour medication delivery service.
The company is registered with the Care Quality Commission, the medical profession’s independent regulator, and uses doctors who are UK-trained and registered with the General Medical Council.
The user interface (UI) uses a simple colour scheme of white, black and pink, along a sans-serif typeface.
The UI includes a map, with plots showing where GPs are based in the user’s vicinity. The user can then select an address, and they are given an expected arrival time, alongside an appointment fee.
Once they’ve ordered, they’re given a profile and photo of the doctor they will be receiving treatment from, alongside a rating and a reviews system.
Following the appointment, they are encouraged to leave a star rating and review, and can view their past and previous appointments through a side menu.
Inspired by Uber and Airbnb
The app was designed by freelance designer Alisa Afkhami, who says Uber was the inspiration behind the user experience (UX) and digital design of GPDQ.
“You could say GPDQ is Uber but for GP visits,” she says. “A lot of users are already familiar with the Uber experience, so by following a similar experience this helps to create an instant sense of trust and ease, as they don’t have to ‘learn’ how to use our app.”
She adds: “As a start-up, we don’t have the same resources as Uber, which now has a massive team of designers, experts, testers and developers – but we can learn a lot from their design decisions and adopt them to our own concept.”
Inspiration was also drawn from the user interface design of Airbnb, Afkhami says. “It has such a clear hierarchy and visual language to display information that it just makes it so easy to digest and absorb,” she says. GPDQ aims to mimic this through its simplicity of use.
“Giving control” to patients
Afkhami says the app concept aims to “empower” patients, through allowing them to leave reviews and ratings, and giving them more control over when they see a doctor.
“Rather than waiting on hold at their GP surgery to try and get an available appointment in the next few weeks, patients can see a doctor right away at a place that’s convenient for them. The rating system also allows GPDQ to maintain a high standard of care based on patient feedback.”
GPDQ is currently only available in central London but will be expanding to more UK cities soon, the company says.
Sorry if I’ve missed something but just to clarify, will these GPs work solely for this company or could they also be practicing GPs at an NHS surgery too? If the latter is true I’m surprised. None of our local GPs would have time for this additional service on top of their regular patient work. A good idea though if one has the money.
Hi George,
Thanks for your comment. To answer your question, we at GPDQ require all of our GPs to work at least 2 sessions per week in the NHS. Many do a mixture of private and NHS work alongside their work with us. You can find out more about the team here – http://www.gpdq.co.uk/meet-the-team/