A UK tech start-up has endeavoured to make the experience of pet-owners that bit easier, bringing veterinary care into the 21st century by offering face-to-face video conferences with a qualified veterinary surgeon.
The service will operate between 6am and midnight, seven days a week, and will cost 15 for a 20-minute consultation. Pawsquad can then send a report to the owner's vet of record, with their permission, to maintain continuity of care, as well as in case of an emergency.
Andrew Ash, Pawsquad chief advisor and former president of the British Small Animals Veterinary Association, said: "Many vets had concerns regarding clients use and misuse of Dr Google. Pawsquad provides a fresh touch point for vets to interact with clients and ensure the balance and quality of the information available to pet owners.
"Our drive has been to identify veterinary surgeons with experience of general practice and genuine commitment to providing excellent support to pet owners. All our vet locums have had face to face interviews to insure the quality of the product we offer to our customers is of a high and consistent standard. We will continue to monitor and develop our vets to achieve high levels of client satisfaction with our service."
This is similar to many of the innovations in the human healthcare sector, such as calls for greater mobile adoption to aid quality of care and increase productivity, and Google's decision to include fact-checked medical information in search results to avoid inaccurate self-diagnoses.
In June, Tim Kelsey predicted that using data, upgraded IT and new models of care in the NHS could help to save a third of the budget gap that is predicted to exist by 2020.
"Technology has a hugely important role to play in delivering the health service's productivity challenge," he said. "Our focus needs to be on how we are going to make the most of this opportunity to solving one of the greatest problems man has ever faced - caring for a growing and ageing population."
