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Evergreen

How NHS login engaged with partners early on to work collaboratively on developing the product and the onboarding process.

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Summary

  • Evergreen Life provides its users with a holistic view of their health and wellness by enabling access to their NHS GP services, personal health records and DNA genetics reports. When this information is combined with a range of in-app questionnaires and challenges, users receive tailored health insights to support them in improving their wellbeing.
  • The app is widely available across England and went live with NHS login in December 2019, being one of the first partners to integrate with NHS login.
  • As of 31 May 2022, Evergreen Life has 49,832 NHS login accounts.
  • NHS login has streamlined the user journey on the Evergreen Life app, while the visibility of the trusted NHS logo and button has provided further reassurance and confidence in the Evergreen Life product. 
  • As an early partner of NHS login, and as part of the Accelerated Access Collaborative, Evergreen Life is an example of how NHS England and NHS Digital are working collaboratively with partners to ensure they are developing solutions with relevant digital health tools to help drive innovation while improving patient outcomes. 
     

The challenge

  • Evergreen Life has been supporting patients to view their GP record since 2003, initially via a kiosk in GP surgeries and, from 2007, via a web app. 
  • However, this route required patients to visit their GP surgery to verify their identity before using the online system and was only achieving a sign-up completion rate of less than 30% of users. This verification process was identified as a key drop off point. 
  • Evergreen Life needed a digital solution that would enable users to verify their identity more conveniently in order to improve the sign-up success rate. 
  • Dan O’Shea, Support Manager at Evergreen Life, said, “The biggest blocker was getting patients to come to the surgery and get their details, so enabling this online (using NHS login) has been a massive benefit to our users.”
     

The solution and benefits

  •  Various online verification services were explored as options, however NHS login was eventually chosen for both the high level of security it provided, as well as the brand equity that would be achieved by displaying the NHS logo within the Evergreen Life product.
  • “It’s definitely the most recognised brand in the UK,” said Lachlan Clark, Head of Project Delivery at Evergreen Life. 
  • Lachlan continued, “Using the NHS name is a significant advantage to us, and to have visibility of offering NHS services has been a long-term goal for the business.”
  • The NHS login button has provided patients with the trust they need to use Evergreen Life, and has resulted in a positive impact on uptake of the app. 
  • Dan O’Shea said, “Patients can be reluctant to use the product due to of the nature of the data they are disclosing. If you don’t have the NHS accreditation next to your name it can certainly affect the uptake of your service.”
  • NHS login also gives Evergreen Life the reassurance and trust that the data they receive from NHS login about a patient is reliable and true. 
  • Lachlan Clark added, “It would have been a lot harder to be certain we have the right patient if we hadn’t got those pieces of data from NHS login”.
     

Working collaboratively with partners

  • As one of the first ten partners to integrate with NHS login, Evergreen Life was one of several partners who worked closely with NHS Digital to iterate and develop NHS login as it moved from being a verification service for the NHS App into becoming a trusted verification tool for the wider health apps and websites market. 
  • Evergreen Life helped shape the onboarding process early on in its iteration and then, as with all partners, continued to provide us with feedback, helping us with the continued improvement of the product and the integration process. 
  • This meant the process could be developed in line with partners’ needs, helping them to understand and deliver on their legal, technical and assurance responsibilities. 
  • The NHS login team works collaboratively with partners in this way so that integration with NHS login can be done as efficiently and effectively as possible. 
  • Lachlan Clark reflected, “This has been a unique opportunity to have an influence on the outcome. When joining a programme two years in, it is very much business as usual; you get what’s working but you haven’t shaped what’s there. We have been able to influence the journey NHS login took from the start.” 
  • Clark continued, “We have been so impressed with how the NHS login programme has involved us in the development of this process, it’s a fantastic way to ensure integrating digital solutions is as painless as possible.” 
  • The NHS login product and its integration process continue to iterate and improve as the product is used by an increasing number of partners. 
  • Lessons are constantly being learnt and partners are encouraged to stay a part of this development via the Partner Collaboration Sessions held monthly with the NHS login team, which enable partners using NHS login to hear updates on its development and feedback their experiences and learnings. 
  • Evergreen Life is one of the 64 integrated partners, helping shape the future of NHS login as it becomes ever more widely used in partner products. 

Last edited: 10 October 2022 4:12 pm