If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that it’s better to look after our own health in the here and now – to try to prevent illness, rather than rely on the medical profession to pick up the pieces after things have started to go wrong.  It should come as no surprise, therefore, that giving customers help to make good lifestyle choices, and providing them with access to early care medical support to help stop little niggles becoming big issues, were two of our top principles when developing our enhanced Helping Hand service.

That’s why we hand-picked a range of early care medical services based on the issues that most commonly affect our customers. Musculoskeletal problems (that’s issues which affect the back and joints) were the top reason for a Royal London Income Protection claim in 2020, with mental illness the third highest reason*. This is strong evidence that, unless addressed and managed, these issues can have a profound impact on a person’s day-to-day life and ability to work. The health services we’ve selected include:

HealthHero: 24/7 access to virtual GP consultations by qualified, experienced NHS doctors delivered through a suite of digital tools.

Thrive: Mental Wellbeing: An NHS approved app that gives advice and recommendations to help with the prevention, early detection, and self-management of mental health conditions.

PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence): This online tool works with a customer’s wearable device (Fitbit, Apple Watch or Amazfit), to measure the impact of physical activity on the heart.

TrackActiveMe: Created by physiotherapists this app helps assess a musculoskeletal problem and gives customers access to physiotherapy advice and personalised exercises – potentially preventing an issue from getting worse.

We’re the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company. When we opened our doors in 1861, our goal was to help people to help themselves. And this is still our way of thinking today.

Being a mutual gives us the freedom to focus on understanding customer needs and make changes that directly benefit them. Which means that when it came to making these enhancements, we were able to apply the same tailored and personalised view as we have with all our covers.

To find out more about how these changes can benefit your clients, visit adviser.royallondon.com/helpinghand

*Source: Royal London protection business claims paid (1 January to 31 December 2020)

Author details:

Christina Rigby, Product Owner at Royal London

February 2022

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