The Covid-19 Care Assistant allows patients to check their symptoms, monitor their illness and attend a virtual consultation with a doctor if necessary. Patients are also given access to bespoke care plans and continually-updated information and videos on how to self-manage Covid-19, care for others with the disease and minimise spread of the disease. Our service helped a staggering number of people avoid the worst outcomes of the illness.

COVID-19 is the biggest public health threat to our communities for nearly a century and Babylon has a huge obligation to help. The pandemic is putting an overwhelming burden on healthcare systems, and governments are expecting a shortage of clinicians. Because of it’s technology and business model Babylon was in a unique position to take positive action for the public good in this time of global crisis.

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic people were unsure of where to turn to for information and care. It was the perfect storm of confusion, fear, misinformation, and frequent updates to science fact. Our patients needed the right care at the right time—while avoiding overloading traditional healthcare services.

The Covid-19 care assistant was the most significant development atop Babylon’s existing AI assistant and models. We needed to evolve our existing experience principles and goals to deal with this massive undertaking. In brief we wanted the covid care assistant to be:

Compassionate: The pandemic put a strain on everyone. Even more than usual we had to be mindful of the fear and anxiety lurking behind every symptom checker request and conversation with our AI assistant. The new dialog pathways we created needed to move beyond simple empathy and sympathy—to really focus on care.

Credible: We needed to bring our patients the latest, vetted information on the disease. We leveraged relationships with health systems and universities—like the WHO, NHS, Imperial College and more—around the globe to update our care plans and content. Our teams of clinicians, content designers, and conversational designers worked tirelessly and around the clock to keep our AI recommendations accurate and up-to-date.

Trustworthy: Misinformation was rampant in the early days of the pandemic. We needed to cut through all the bullshit in a way that everyone could understand and believe regardless of political leaning. Structuring our conversations to avoid the political landmines that popped up daily was a key part of our success.

Proactive: We were able to pivot our notifications and monitor features to drive adoption and usage of our covid care plans to an unparalleled degree we’d never seen before. That meant patients had clear guidelines of what to expect and when during these unprecedented times. From testing to contending with early symptoms and more, we were there with patients at every step of the way offering help.

We launched the Covid-19 Care Assistant service as part of a new way to help large groups of lower to medium risk patients with their needs. Here's how COVID-19 Care Assistant works:

Get the latest information
Find continually-updated information on coronavirus. Our information comes from the World Health Organization and NHS doctors.

Symptom checker and live chat
Babylon offers a symptom checker through the app and online that has the ability to recognise what might be COVID-19 symptoms and suggest possible next steps. Use the live chat feature to ask questions and receive answers from a member of our team.

A Care Plan made for you
Get daily notifications to track your symptoms, reminders to measure your vital signs, information for the 14-day isolation and general tips for your physical and mental wellbeing.

Speak to a healthcare expert
Our COVID-19 Care Assistant allows you to have a video consultation with a clinician via your smartphone or web. If you believe you need to speak to a healthcare professional, you can book a video consultation. You can do all of this within the app or on the web.

8%

of global covid cases were cared for by us

99%

of cases avoided long-term effects

4.8

rating in the App Store & App of The Day

Role

Global Creative Director, Experience Design

Skills

Creative Direction, Product Design, Interaction Design, Information Architecture, Strategy, UX Research, Copywriting, Branding, Staff Leadership & Development

Team

Emily Sappington, Lucy Soares-Turner, Michael Owen, Adrián López Hernández, Joao Araujo, Ana Marta, Ozlem Kucukyilmaz Williams, Anna Zawilska, Claire Woodcock, Steven Chang

COMPANY / Launch

Babylon Health / 2020 ​— Ongoing