Medicare

Presentation link:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAHP026nKeQ/ghimcoBprhh5vuyYY71s5w/edit

Framing the Problem

What is the problem you are trying to solve? Who does it affect?

Patient waiting times are increasing rapidly due to a shortage of qualified professionals and an ageing population. Many people have to wait weeks for a GP appointment that lasts only 10 minutes or less, and it takes even longer to get a proper diagnosis. This increasing pressure is worsened by a lack of clear medical needs, with patients getting tests that they may not actually need, leading to longer delays for people with more urgent problems.

Between 2024-2025, there were 5.2 million people who required a doctor's attention yet were unable to book a GP appointment, and we would like to tackle this problem with a fast and easy mobile app that can give hope to those trying to reach out for medical help.

Idea Explanation

What is your idea? How does it fix the problem?

We have built a mobile app called MediCare that aims to help the older population who are constantly having concerns about using modern-day tech services. We aim to make it more accessible for older users, who may feel that visiting their local GP only to be put on a long waiting list is a burden, to interact with an AI doctor, seek help for their symptoms and book urgent appointments - all from the comfort and ease of their mobile.

The MediCare app includes numerous features, such as appointments, records, and chat service, that improve user experience and allow users to receive medical attention as soon as they feel they need it. The AI doctor feature is specially trained and modelled to handle medical queries and is suitable for patients' questions. Rather than waiting in huge queues, patients can now use the app to test and discuss their symptoms with the AI doctor, who can offer simple medical advice or recommend that the user contact emergency services.

Overall, our app makes it much more convenient and actually offers effective and efficient medical aid, especially for the older population who may not be familiar with tech services and are most in need of medical attention.

Implementation

How do all the pieces fit together? Does your frontend make requests to your backend? Where does your database fit in?

Medicare is a mobile app that connects users with an AI assistant through a secure and user-friendly experience. Patients can check symptoms, book appointments, manage prescriptions, and access their health information all in one place. The app securely sends requests to a central system that processes information, communicates with the AI, and retrieves or updates data stored in a protected database. Healthcare providers such as GP surgeries, hospitals, and private clinics can subscribe to Medicare and securely integrate their existing patient databases with the app, allowing patients to access their medical records while enabling features such as AI-assisted triage, appointment management, prescription services, and clinical support. By securely integrating with existing healthcare systems rather than replacing them, Medicare helps reduce administrative workload and improve patient care. The app is designed to be secure, and suitable for medical establishments of all sizes while ensuring patient data remains protected and handled in accordance with healthcare data protection standards.

Challenges

What did you struggle with? How did you overcome it?

Our biggest challenge was designing an AI healthcare system that is both safe and responsible. Healthcare requires an exceptionally high standard of privacy and reliability, as it involves handling sensitive patient information and providing guidance that could influence important medical decisions. An inaccurate diagnosis or inappropriate recommendation could have serious consequences for a patient's health. To address this, Medicare is designed to support—not replace—healthcare professionals. Rather than providing definitive diagnoses, the AI offers initial guidance, identifies potential conditions, and prioritises emergency symptoms that require immediate medical attention. We also developed a patient prioritisation system that balances medical urgency with fairness, ensuring those with the most serious conditions receive timely care while maintaining equitable access for all patients. Strong security measures and data protection are integrated throughout the platform to safeguard patient information and build trust in the system.

Another challenge we faced was determining how to use AI responsibly and moderately during the development of Medicare. While AI tools enabled us to accelerate research, generate ideas, and prototype features more efficiently, it was important to ensure that the project remained our own work. We treated AI as a support tool rather than a replacement for our creativity and decision-making. Every AI-generated idea, piece of code, and design suggestion was carefully reviewed, tested, and refined by our team to ensure it met the project's requirements and reflected our own understanding. This approach allowed us to benefit from AI's capabilities while maintaining originality, accuracy, and accountability throughout the development process.

Accomplishments

What did you learn? What did you accomplish?

Throughout this project, we developed both technical and teamwork skills. Building a mobile application from scratch gave us valuable experience in taking an idea from concept to prototype, considering both the user experience and the technical architecture behind the app. Working as a team taught us the importance of effective communication and dividing the roles among the team members, allowing each member to take ownership of different areas of the project while ensuring everything integrated into a cohesive final product. We also learned how to assign roles based on individual strengths, improving our efficiency and productivity. The brainstorming process encouraged us to think creatively about real-world healthcare challenges and explore innovative ways AI could improve patient care while remaining safe and responsible.

Overall, we accomplished the creation of a functional prototype that demonstrates how AI can support healthcare professionals, improve patient experiences, and address genuine challenges faced by modern healthcare systems.

Next Steps

What are the next steps for your project? How can you improve it?

If we had more time, we would further enhance the app by allowing users to book, reschedule, and manage appointments directly within the platform. This would improve convenience for patients by reducing waiting times and providing a more efficient way to access healthcare services. We would also implement secure communication features, such as real-time messaging or video consultations, allowing users to have direct conversations with GPs and receive professional medical advice without needing to visit a healthcare centre.

In the future, we would also expand the app’s functions beyond general healthcare by developing dedicated features for dentists and opticians. This would allow users to manage a wider range of healthcare needs through a single platform, improving convenience and accessibility. For dental care, the app could include features such as booking dental appointments, storing dental records, receiving reminders for check-ups, and tracking oral health information. For opticians, the app could support features such as managing eye test appointments, storing vision records, tracking changes in eyesight, and providing reminders for regular eye examinations. Expanding the app to include these healthcare services would create a more elaborative healthcare management system, allowing users to monitor and maintain different aspects of their health in one secure location.

Furthermore, we would improve the security of the app by developing a more advanced authentication system, using national healthcare identification numbers rather than email addresses. This would provide stronger identity verification and reduce the risk of unauthorised access to sensitive patient information. As the app handles confidential medical data, such as health records, symptoms, and wearable device information, ensuring a high level of security is essential to keep and build patient privacy and trust. A healthcare identification system would allow the app to verify that each user is correctly linked to their medical profile, preventing issues such as identity fraud or unauthorised users accessing another person's information. We would also implement additional security measures, such as multi-factor authentication and encrypted data storage, to provide further protection against cyber threats and ensure that patient data is handled responsibly in line with healthcare privacy standards. We feel that it's crucial to build a strong relationship with the users that is built on trust and transparency in our policies and how we monitor their data.

We would also expand the app’s accessibility by adding support for multiple languages, ensuring that users from different backgrounds can effectively use the system. Additional notification features through email or SMS would be introduced to provide reminders for appointments, medication schedules, and important health updates. Finally, we would further develop the existing wearable device connection by supporting a wider range of medical devices and improving how collected health data is analysed. This would allow the app to provide more accurate personalised insights and enable healthcare professionals to make better-informed decisions based on real-time patient data.