Klaus Bartosch.

1st Group, the parent company of online booking and patient referral software platform MyHealth1st, has launched a new health education portal for consumers.

The yet to be finally named health portal was unveiled in April in Australia, complete with detailed consumer information about Covid-19 symptoms and advice.

“Rather than being a tool for self-diagnosis, the health hub has been designed to be a tool for people to come to understand their own health, risks and symptoms then easily book an appointment with an appropriate specialist,” said 1st Group in a statement to practices.

From day one, the vision for the MyHealth1st platform was to help educate and provide simple access to healthcare for consumers, said Klaus Bartosch, 1st Group’s managing director. “From a consumer’s perspective, healthcare remains complex and confusing. Consumers don’t know when they should be seeing a healthcare service provider or exactly what are the right services to seek out?” This coupled with the issues healthcare businesses face with effective patient engagement provided an opportunity for 1st Group to help its customers more effectively engage with their patients, while also helping patients proactively manage their health, he said.

Eye care professionals and other healthcare providers can refer patients to the health education portal to find tips on how to stay healthy and identify or alleviate symptoms, and case studies from patients on their own health journeys, said Bartosch.

But the site is young, which is why the company is inviting healthcare practitioners to share their own ideas, he said. “If you have a topic, opinion piece, study or article you’d like to share with patients from across Australia and New Zealand, please get in touch. All submitted articles will link back to your profile on MyHealth1st, in turn increasing your visibility and new patient appointments.”