Better2Know - Backline Medical Hero of the Year
Company: Better2Know
Company Description: Better2Know is the world's leading private provider of sexual health testing services. Founded in 2011 by Michael Asher and Anthea Morris, it is now a global award winning provider of fast, accurate STI tests for patients around the world.
Nomination Category: COVID-19 Response Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Backline Medical Hero of the Year
Nomination Title: Better2Know Anthea Morris
Anthea Morris is the ownerof Better2Know: already established as the world’s leading private provider of sexual health testing services having won the Gold International Stevie Award for Small Healthcare businesses in 2019 and 2020.
In early February 2020, she saw the pandemic sweeping across Europe. She followed the same values and principles that hadestablished Better2Know. She providedpatients with the healthcare solution that they want: and launched a home sample collection kit for the Covid-19 virus. This kit is sent in the mail to the patient’s home. It contains detailed instructions showing the patient how to collect their sample, safely, themselves, at home. This can then be put back in any post box back to the laboratory.
This service meant that:
=The suspected patient could order and complete the test in isolation without risk of infecting anyone else
-Fast and accurate results provided quickly online
-Patients could isolate or return to the normal lives faster if the test was negative
-Anyone could access the service without booking
-No exposure of front-line staff to the virus at drive-through centres
-Ideal for residents of care homes who cannot get to drive through centres
-The sexual health contact tracing app was reconfigured for patients who tested positive to use to let people know
This service was ready within 10 days and saw huge demand from the public, both in the UK and overseas, who wanted to get tested. This was valuable to families who were moving in together when lockdown started, the adult children of people who were dying in hospices to allow them to say goodbye, key workers, the NHS Ambulance Service, Care home staff, and residents.
Without this service, many more people in the UK may have caught and passed on the COVID infection to others, and as a result, lives have been saved.
Anthea has worked day and night to ensure that patient needs have been met. With all other staff working from home, they have been making the kits and ensuring fast dispatch to all Better2Know customers.
The attachments show the dedication Anthea has put into developing the Covid 19 testing pathway for patients, including: training staff to answer emails, phone calls and webchats with dedicated training sessions. She has also (May 2021) run a series of Masterclasses over Teams to help the team come together and provide quick 30-minute knowledge blasts on different aspects of the product.
In a wider context, the attachments also show Better2Know approaching the UK Government to help with testing in the early days of the pandemic, the infographics produced, and the Better2Know Resource Hub.