Over the past week, we’ve been asking you to share your ideas with us on how we can #KeepBritainWorking. Dr. Anthony Graham shared his idea with us on a product that would help people transition back into work as soon as it is safe for us to do so. We spoke to him about how his product could help aid the economic recovery and #KeepBritainWorking.
Tell us a little bit about yourselves…
When the C-19 crisis hit, we pulled together a consortium of specialists to challenge ourselves on what we could do to get Britain quickly and safely back to work. We were passionate that the solution had to be different to an ‘immunity passport’ for it to resonate with the British public, whilst it has to conform to the highest levels of data security and ethics demanded in the healthcare industry.
The consortium consists of Unai, leaders in developing Big Data and Technology Solutions in the Healthcare sector; Inviqa, leaders in developing engaging digital customer experiences; and New World Loyalty, global experts in developing customer propositions.
This gives us the skills and experience to develop consumer friendly applications, which are built with the highest levels of data security and ethics.
We have delivered world class solutions for the likes of Boots, NHS, Genomics England, My World of Work, Public Contracts Scotland, Comic Relief, Barclays, Nectar, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Now we want to deliver a world class solution that safely and quickly gets Britain back to work.
Interesting. So your team has now designed a product to help people safely get back to work?
Yes, that’s right. We recognise that Colleagues are desperate to get back to work and to freely get on with their lives again, as soon as it is safe to do so. Millions of people will now be C-19 immune and these numbers will rapidly increase as more people contract the virus and vaccinations come on board later in the year. We have designed an application which enables people with C-19 immunity to safely get back to work.
Is this like the applications used in China?
No. The applications developed in China and elsewhere focus on something called contact tracking. They use your cellphone to see if you have been in close proximity to someone with C-19 and if you have, it advises you to take action to stop the spread of infection.
Whilst this can provide an indication of how likely someone is to contract the virus, it cannot tell you they are immune and only works if more than 60% of the Country use it all the time. In regimes such as China, this is easier to enforce than it would be in the UK.
How does this work then?
Our application works by the individual giving permission to access their C-19 antibody test results or vaccination status from validated health professionals, providing a definitive view. This means people can safely get on with their lives with confidence
It’s actually really easy and best of all does not require any infrastructure investment for companies. The Citizen downloads a simple application and registers their details, including taking a selfie. These details are securely stored.
When an employee goes into their place of work, they open the application and request a QR code. This code is then scanned by a receptionist on a smartphone, or other scanning device and the employee’s picture will come up with a simple ‘Approved’ message.
It happens instantly and is totally secure without any personal data being shared.
What about Colleagues who are not C-19 immune?
What is becoming more evident by the day is there will be a long transition period from the lockdown we have today to everyone freely living their lives again. There may even be a series of ‘mini lockdowns’ throughout the year to help us get there. The worst of all outcomes is to risk an uncontrolled second wave of infection and go through all of this pain again. As part of this transition, we propose it is better to get people who are safe to do so, back into the workplace as quickly as possible. This gets the economy moving again and makes it easier for firms to accommodate those without immunity to continue working from home, where it is possible to do so.
As vaccinations come on board later this year, there will be a rapid increase in C-19 immunity and there needs to be a secure, seamless and cost effective process in place to welcome colleagues back into the workplace.
So, is this application just for people with C-19 immunity?
C-19 immunity is the gold standard safety requirement to ensure the virus cannot be spread to others. That said, there are a range of scenarios, some of which will require the ‘gold standard, whilst others may not.
We have designed the application, so it can be flexible to adapt to the lockdown relaxation criteria set by the government. For example, this may be age, region, industry sector or other health conditions, as well as the C-19 immunity gold standard.
Find out more about recovery pass in this video:
Thanks Anthony for taking the time to speak to us about how Recovery Pass could help get people back safely into work.
If you’ve read this article and also have your own ideas on how we can #KeepBritainWorking, you can share it with us here keepbritainworking.com/share-an-idea/
Dr Anthony Graham is an international expert in Customer Loyalty, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
Iain Pringle is a Managing Consultant, specialising in Customer Loyalty and Partnerships
