www.sxt.org.uk – The best way to find time sensitive services that are open now

SXT Health CIC is a social enterprise with a mission to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services. Its website www.sxt.org.uk signposts members of the public to the right SRH service, in the right place, at the right time, and is designed to meet the needs not just of patients, but of providers and commissioners too.

There are three time sensitive services which www.sxt.org.uk excels at providing local information for:

• Emergency contraception

• PEP following HIV exposure

• Treatment following  sexual assault

Accessing these services is supported by quick buttons on the website's home page.

The client only needs to add the first part of their postcode or use the 'locate me' function on their smartphone to see what is open & local.

Time sensitive service information in under a minute

If your service is not in www.sxt.org.uk and you provide one of these services please visit the site to join today. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

www.sxt.org.uk - a platform tailor-made for sexual and reproductive healthcare providers

www.sxt.org.uk is the only provider-run database of sexual and reproductive healthcare. We have used our own on-the-job experience to create a platform which meets the needs of the people who work in this area of healthcare, tackles some of the day to day frustrations they face, and is easy for them to use and incorporate into their management practices. Here's how we've done it ..

Four years ago, we launched SXT as a simple SMS service; however, the lack of flexibility with text messages, especially when compared to smartphones, pushed us into developing a web service, which then became mobile friendly for clients in August 2013. In February 2015, we turned www.sxt.org.uk into a mobile friendly website for providers too.

The information technology hurdle

The problem of out-of-date internet browsers on computers across the NHS has been one of the biggest barriers to providers joining and using www.sxt.org.uk effectively.  Those who signed up to and used the site early had to use their computer at home to do so because their work software did't function properly.  In 2012 we used a Google chrome patch to try and make the site work on Internet Explorer 6 but few members of staff would download it because they thought that they would need administrator rights.  Internet Explorer 7 is better and so are early versions of Firefox but still www.sxt.org.uk does not look its best on these older browsers.  

Going mobile means that staff can use the computers that they carry around in their pocket to bypass the limitations of their computers at work.  The first step for all providers is to see if their service has already been uploaded to www.sxt.org.uk from NHS Choices or other databases.  The minute-long video below shows the simple steps to check our database.  If you are already on the website then please claim your service so that you can edit your hours of operation, services and profile.  If you are not, then you will see the simple steps to register and join.

Registering in www.sxt.org.uk

The Time Barrier

If you work in a busy service it might, at first, be difficult to see the benefit of taking the time to join www.sxt.org.uk.   After all, services already have a plethora of requests from commissioners, NHS bodies and other organisations (GMFA, THT, NAT and others) asking for a paper or electronic copy of the hours of operation, services, the types of clients being seen ... so why on earth should you join another information service?  But www.sxt.org.uk is not just another information service asking for the same, it is the chance to stop all the duplication and sharing of partial information about provision described above.

www.sxt.org.uk has been designed for providers to simply and accurately capture the details of their service.  Once they have been added, your details are visible not just to clients, but to all the other organisations requesting it.  Upload the data just once, so that it can be used many times, without you wasting time repeating the task.  It's simple to update your details, and this information can be shared either as a print out or via the SXT application programming interface that enables the database to share service information in real-time.

It takes less than a minute to register with SXT, another minute to apply to add a provider or outreach venue (see first video below) and less than 20 minutes to add details for a complex service and go live (see second video below).

Entering provider details on www.sxt.org.uk

Going live on www.sxt.org.uk

Keeping up to date

The mobile version of www.sxt.org.uk is now a super quick way to keep up to date.  Once you log in to www.sxt.org.uk on your mobile phone you can add the web page to your home screen.  Your mobile phone will remember the login details and consequently you will be able to see your service(s) with a touch of one icon.  As you can see from the video above it is as simple as checking a box to add a service, change hours of service or close for a day.

Enough already

Some providers may have concerns that marketing services on www.sxt.org.uk will attract more clients, when they are already having difficulty seeing the patients who currently attend.  Many services see patients with a diverse set of needs and a sizable fraction could be seen at another time or by another provider.

Equitable access is the aspiration of all providers; however, there are some patients who need to take priority because they require time sensitive services (such as emergency contraception or PEP), they are under 16 years of age or they have painful symptoms (e.g. the first episode of anogenital herpes).  As a health care system we need to ensure that we match capacity with demand to meet the needs described above. The best way to do this is to ensure that patients know which local services can meet their needs.  It is a system failure when patients who want a simple test wait hours and bottle neck around a service, making it difficult for a patient who needs a priority service to be seen.

www.sxt.org.uk has been designed for all providers of sexual & reproductive health services.  It does not matter if the service is online, a 100 hour pharmacy, a once a week outreach clinic or a seven day a week university hospital provider, www.sxt.org.uk meets needs across the network of provision.  It is only by communicating all services effectively to patients that we can distribute the work appropriately and optimize access to services. If you agree, and want to support our work, please visit www.sxt.org.uk and join.

What www.sxt.org.uk can do for clients, providers, commissioners and public health

SXT Health CIC is a social enterprise with a mission to improve access to sexual & reproductive health services. It has created www.sxt.org.uk - a mobile enabled website with a lot to offer to clients, providers, commissioners and pubic health.

Clients

www.sxt.org.uk has been designed first and foremost for clients - to help them find the right health service in the right place at the right time.  

The website works on all machines regardless of their screen size, and, thanks to responsive programming, it also works on mobile phones without the client needing to download an App.  

It is possible for the client to share pages from the website by email or SMS to, for example, inform a partner of available services. This can be done anonymously if the client wishes. Finally, there is a slide out feedback form so that clients can score the SXT service. This is currently completed by 8.5% of clients and 81% give a score of eight or more out of ten.

Providers

Changes have been made to the ‘back end’ of the website to help providers overcome some of the IT difficulties they may encounter at work, e.g. with older internet browsers.  Firstly, providers can sign up and edit their SXT pages, quickly and simply, on a smartphone.  

Providers can use their page on www.sxt.org.uk as a flexible advert, giving up to the minute information on opening times, services available, how/whether to book, and how best to travel to them. They can give different staff management rights over the page. And they can access analytics on how/why their services are being used, as well as feedback from clients.

Commissioners

It is difficult to appreciate where there are gaps in service and yet this information is key to optimize commissioning.  Gap analysis is available in real-time within www.sxt.org.uk, so that commissioners can view client use and providers chosen, with an oversight of provision that can be filtered by service, hours of operation and location.  

The impact of targeted marketing can be visualized in www.sxt.org.uk, where it is possible to see usage for a specific location and providers chosen, to determine client behaviour.  Like for providers, this information can be downloaded in formats that support analysis in separate software to inform and develop future programs.

Public health

This is a confidential service for all users, but it is possible to, anonymously, follow the client's journey through the website - from digital public health advert, to finding a provider, right through to whether they received a service, which they can rate with a simple thumbs up | thumbs down.  

The anonymous digital end-to-end tracking makes it possible for the first time to calculate an objective return on investment for public health marketing campaigns.

To fins out more, please visit www.sxt.org.uk, or watch this 5 minute film.

SXT - Why it was created, what we do, and how it has been achieved.

Why?

SXT Health CIC is a social enterprise with a mission to improve access to sexual & reproductive health services.  It was formed to meet the needs of clients, providers and commissioners and its goal is to optimise the relationship between capacity and demand.  

What?

www.sxt.org.uk is a mobile enabled website which guides clients to the right service in the right place at the right time.  Providers simply control their details within the database and www.sxt.org.uk translates this for clients so that they can act upon accurate information.  Commissioners are provided with a real-time gap analysis to support their development of the service.

The providers on www.sxt.org.uk have come from two main sources:

1. Providers signing up to www.sxt.org.uk and adding their services (n>300) [SXT verified]

2. Uploaded from other online databases (n>2000) - these services can be claimed by the provider

The provider has the ability to edit all the information about their service to ensure that they are accurately represented on www.sxt.org.uk.  As soon as changes are made they are live for clients to see.  All the information provided to clients is sourced from NHS Choices, the Family Planning Association and other reputable sources.

www.sxt.org.uk is as good as the data it holds and providers are encouraged to claim a service or register for free today to support the SXT mission

When?

The key events on the timelines have been:

• The idea was conceived and the community interest company was formed 2009
• The website & SMS engine started in January 2011
• A client facing mobile friendly version of www.sxt.org.uk was released August 2013
• The slide out feedback form was introduced at this time too (8.5% of clients who chose a single service give feedback and 81% give a score that is eight or more out of ten)
• A login for commissioners was developed in October 2014
• Providers were given access to a mobile friendly version of www.sxt.org.uk in February 2015

How?

To date SXT has been funded by the generous grants from:

• UnLtd / 4iP in July 2009
• Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity in August 2010 & 2013

In November 2014 Big Issue Invest awarded SXT a corporate social venturing loan to build up the service.

The business model of SXT is to deliver digital public health marketing packages to raise awareness and improve access to services.

All money raised by the community interest company will be used to pay for its services and any surplus reinvested into the SXT mission.

If you are a provider and would like to support SXT’s mission please visit www.sxt.org.uk or watch this 1 minute video on how to join.