Bupa Global & UK partner with online mental health tool JAAQ
- Bupa partners with online platform JAAQ to boost access to personalised, expert-led health advice online
- Comes as latest Bupa research shows reluctance to seek mental health help may still be prevalent, as well as trends towards searching symptoms online
- Bupa experts Dr Arun Thiyagarajan and Dr Samantha Wild provide expert health advice in response to user questions
Bupa Global & UK has partnered with mental health social media platform JAAQ (Just Ask A Question) in a six month trial designed to increase access to personalised, expert-led health advice available online.
The partnership comes as the latest research from Bupa’s Wellbeing Index shows that there is still a reluctance to seek support for mental health issues. The research found that issues including fear of wasting a doctor’s time, embarrassment about talking to a ‘stranger’ and lack of time in their personal life are preventing people from seeking medical help.
And more than one in five 25-44 year olds (21%) still think issues like men’s mental health are ‘taboo’. This means that this age group is more likely to seek information online – and in fact 40 per cent said they’d searched their symptoms online in the last three months.
To support greater access to credible, personalised health advice when and where people need it, Bupa experts Dr Arun Thiyagarajan and Dr Samantha Wild are providing expert advice on mental health and wider men’s and women’s health topics via the JAAQ platform for the next six months.
This adds to Bupa’s mental health support which provides ongoing, around-the-clock support for a wealth of mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression and addiction. Bupa’s Family Mental HealthLine is also available to support children’s and teen mental health. Additionally, anyone can access Bupa’s mental health hub for support and advice about mental health whether they are a Bupa customer or not.
Dr Arun Thiyagarajan, Managing Director for Bupa Health Clinics said: “At Bupa we are constantly looking for ways to innovate and harness new technologies, in order to address needs of our customers. Our latest research shows us that many people – young people especially – prefer to get their information online.
“It’s really important that people are able to access credible, personalised advice for a health issue that’s worrying them so we’re really pleased that our health experts are providing that advice through JAAQ.
“Early diagnosis improves outcomes so I’d urge anyone who’s struggling with a mental or physical health issue to speak to a health professional – either on the phone, via video or face to face”.
Danny Gray, Founder, JAAQ, said: “We’re so pleased to have Bupa as a partner, helping people to access free, credible advice from trained health experts. It’s really important to us that people are able to get answers to the questions that they have and receive the help they need.”
The new partnership comes as part of Bupa’s wider digital transformation which includes the launch of Bupa Blua which offers 24/7/365 access to pharmacists, nurses, GPs, physiotherapists and mental health clinicians, as well as new technology across its dental practices and care homes.
JAAQ is a free, online platform that uses voice recognition and AI to provide a safe space where users can ask world-leading doctors, experts and those with lived experiences questions on mental health topics at any time of day, without judgement.
