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Involve
Kent

After assessing multiple providers and finding long lead times, poor commercial terms, and inflexible security options, Involve Kent chose Cloud Gateway’s platform to connect their Social Prescribing Link Workers to the NHS Health and Social Care Network. The platform was fully live in five weeks.

GP appointments down 12%. A&E attendances down 12%. Community wellbeing up 24%.
Enabled by secure HSCN connectivity for Social Prescribing Link Workers across Kent.

The Health Connect platform was the slickest and simplest solution on the market and the speed of service from the Cloud Gateway team was very impressive. Once on the network our Link Workers are able to deliver a valuable service to the community.

Mark Fanciulli

Digital & IT Lead, Involve Kent

Working with Cloud Gateway has enabled us to deliver essential services to our communities and supports Involve Kent's mission to achieve healthy, connected people and communities in the region.

Gary Wells

Deputy CEO, Involve Kent

The challenge

Involve Kent launched their Social Prescribing service in 2018 to tackle the root causes of ill health across the county – isolation, loneliness, disadvantage, and frailty – in partnership with the NHS and local health service providers. The service connects people to community support, advice, and activities that address what is actually affecting their health, rather than treating symptoms alone.

As the service expanded, Link Workers needed secure remote access to patient records, appointments, and other NHS data – only accessible via the HSCN. When Covid-19 arrived and the service was required to operate fully remotely almost overnight, that need became urgent.

Involve Kent assessed several providers. All fell short on at least one critical dimension – lead times were too long, commercial terms were unfavourable, or bandwidth and security options were too rigid to meet their requirements.

What we did

We deployed our platform, giving Involve Kent’s Link Workers secure, scalable remote access to the HSCN from any location. The platform was fully provisioned in five weeks from first engagement.

The solution connected Link Workers to the patient records, appointments, and data they needed to deliver a fully remote, personalised care service, in line with NHS England’s requirements for Social Prescribing. As a cloud-native solution, it scales instantly as the service grows, without the constraints of physical infrastructure.