Former Ogilvy account manager, Sarah Beckwith, has left agency land and launched Doctus – Australia’s first online prescription service that gives patients the choice about how, when and where they interact with a doctor.
Co-founding the company in 2014 with her father, Dr. Rodney Beckwith (both pictured above), the duo provide an on-demand online GP consultation service for people with simple ailments. This, Doctus argues, frees up the healthcare system for those with complex medical needs.
According to Beckwith, Doctus is forecasted to comfortably surpass 10,000 Australian patient consultations by the end of this year, with repeat customers responsible for the majority of revenue.
Building a scalable health platform with emerging digital technology to address inefficiencies in Australia’s highly regulated medical system was a natural extension of Beckwith’s professional and life experiences who will also be speaking at Daze Of Disruption in Melbourne from 3-4th December.
“Working in advertising on global consumer accounts such as Kimberley Clark, product innovation and customer experience were the basis of brand loyalty and trust – this is something I always kept front of mind when we founded Doctus,” Beckwith said.
Beckwith grew up on NSW’s Central Coast where her father’s medical clinic is still located, this helped shaped the vision and values on which Doctus is based.
“Regional Australia often lacks accessibility to services that are more readily available in major cities – access to Doctors and prescription medication should not be one of them,” Beckwith said.
According to Beckwith, allowing patients to interact with their GP online from their own homes 24 hours a day will not only become the new normal but it will be an indispensible service to many.
The online medical platform overcomes past access barriers for those seeking medical assistance from older patients with mobility difficulties to patients too embarrassed about certain conditions.
“Think about the real cost of seeing a doctor, the time off work, travel, sitting in the waiting room… now multiply these with the inefficiencies of the highly regulated traditional system and you’ll see the impact on the community,” she said.
