Let’s take one more thing off your never-ending to-do list: Healthcare. While it’s one of the most important aspects of our life, we often put off things that we need to do for our health simply because it involves calling at the right time to make appointments, repeat visits to pharmacies, queuing for ages or taking time off work to get the treatment we need.
So, if we could make the whole process just a little easier, I’m sure we would be less reluctant to access the healthcare and support we need and can finally stop putting it off until we’re less busy. Because, let’s face it, we’re never going to be less busy!
Here are some things you can try in order to make your healthcare more streamlined:
Healthcare automation
Have you heard of the Airmid app? It’s a handy app that’s used by many NHS services to allow you to book appointments with healthcare providers – such as your GP or physiotherapy service – at the touch of a button. You need to be registered with your local NHS healthcare providers in advance, but once you’re set up as a patient, you’ll be able to use the app to access your medical records, arrange appointments and get test results – no phone calls or queuing necessary!
It’s really handy because you can browse all the available appointment times, choose to attend a more convenient location (if applicable) and you can even choose which specific healthcare practitioner you want to see. This is particularly useful if you need to book with the same physiotherapist each time in order to continue your treatment.
Once you’ve seen your GP or nurse and have a treatment plan in place, you can automate your prescriptions and buy home testing kits using an online pharmacy. This makes it so much easier to keep track of your prescriptions so that you don’t run out of your essential medications, plus you don’t need to take up valuable time going to a physical pharmacy to collect repeat prescriptions – they’ll be delivered in the post instead, so that’s one less thing you have to do.
Easy eyecare
Another thing you can automate is your eyecare. If you’re a contact lenses wearer, it makes sense to automate the deliveries of your contact lenses each month or every quarter. This saves you time going to the opticians to collect your next pack of lenses and means you’ll never run out.
Of course, you’ll need to have regular check-ups for your eye health as a contacts wearer and also get your sight tested as recommended, but you can semi-automate these tasks too. Simply ask your optician to send you a reminder email or text message when your next test is due in a year, two years or whenever they recommend.
Once you’ve got your prescription, it’s easy to set up a recurring order for your lenses with an online eyecare retailer. Simply input the details of your specific contact lenses brand and your personal prescription to make an order. Once you’ve completed your first order, you can set up the re-order date, so you’ll never have to consider buying lenses again. So much time and effort saved!
Mental wellbeing
One of the healthcare elements we tend to ignore when we’re already busy with our work, family and chores, is our mental health. The trouble is that, when we don’t prioritise our mental wellbeing and ignore the signs of anxiety, stress or depression, thinking we can just cope with it, it can eventually lead to burnout and you may possibly need time off work to recover.
So, if you’re that busy that you don’t have time to take care of your mental health, that’s exactly when you should start prioritising it. Much like the age-old advice of putting on your own life jacket before helping others in a crisis, you need to keep yourself mentally well in order to look after your family, work and home.
You can make a start by using a mindfulness app – something like Calm, Balance, Headspace or ZenMe. You can set up a reminder that pings up on your phone at a time that suits you, to encourage you to take some time out for yourself and enjoy a mindful moment. This will instantly ease stress and make coping with your busy life a little easier.
Thankfully, there’s no need to take time off to attend appointments with a therapist – you can arrange a session online at a time that suits you. You can sit down in a comfy spot at home with a cuppa and speak to a counsellor via a video call or even just an audio call to talk through your feelings and they can help you to create a plan to improve your mental wellbeing.
I hope these ideas for automating your health and wellbeing will help you to take care of your health without taking up more of your precious time in the process. Let me know in the comments below if you’ve found any easy ways to streamline your healthcare, I’d love to hear your ideas.
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This article is a sponsored collaboration. The pink links in the content indicate a sponsored link or information source. The blog post reflects my own experience and the sponsor hasn’t had any control over my content 🙂
