Reach and help more people make changes to reduce their risk of future disease, disease progression, complications development and loss of independence. For instance, to help them become more active, stop smoking, eat better, drink differently, take medications as prescribed, get better sleep, become less lonely, take up a service, etc.

The coachbot can be configured to guide and support people to think about and make changes likely to help with mental health, positive wellbeing and recovery - including becoming more active, engaging in one or more positive psychology interventions, strengthening connections, taking up & engaging with talking therapy or social prescribing services, getting better sleep, problem-solving, getting signposted to mental health apps and web-sites you approve of, etc.

Many health programmes experience a lack of uptake by people likely to benefit - for instance cardiac rehabilitation programmes, diabetes education programmes, adult health checks, etc. They can also experience sub-optimal engagement once people have joined. Your coachbot can be designed to both increase people's readiness to take up a service, and engage with it - e.g. testing changes between sessions. For instance, we are currently exploring ideas for using a bespoke coachbot to increase uptake of abdominal aortic aneurysm screening in Greater Manchester.

We've developed coachbots to help a person create their own health and wellbeing improvement plan. It involves a bit of education about what wellbeing is and where it comes from, before helping users reflect on small (evidence-based) changes they could make to help them experience more health and wellbeing over time. The bot can then generate a copy of their persoanlised plan, send it to themselves, and/or forward it to someone else - for instance a health professional they are about to see. Your wellbeing coachbot can be offered as an accompaniment to local talking therapy services, or as part of a worksite wellbeing programme, or student health service. The report a person receives can be populated with helpful tips, exercises and links to helpful resources - e.g. mindfulness tracks, self-help websites, local services, etc. 

We have developed a fully customisable 'prepared patient' coachbot, based on our work with the personalised care unit of NHS England and Southwark PCN social prescribing teams. This version of the coachbot helps people become better prepared for an upcoming appointment (or investigation, or procedure etc.). We can weave in a short video to educate people about your service, help people to clarify their values (what really matters to them), think about what questions they want to ask, and help ensure they turn up ready and prepared. With the users consent, the prepared patient coachbot can even forward helpful information to person or team they will be seeing - which can help the appointment or session be more efficient. We can also explore how the output of this coachbot can be integrated with your EPR or CRM system. In one small sample, we found that 80% of users said they felt better or much better prepared for their upcoming appointment - and we a very keen to do more studies.

Your coachbot can be designed to guide and support people on a waiting list towards self-care, activation, lifestyle change and other service uptake. For instance, we know that many people on waiting lists for joint-replacement lose muscle mass and strength whilst they wait and may even become ineligible for their operation when their time comes. Guiding them towards helpful activities whilst they wait can help. And many young people waiting for mental health support can benefit from a personalised wellbeing protection plan, becoming more active, engaging in local confidence-building arts activities and other options.

We have developed a coachbot to help increase levels of household recycling in Northern Ireland, and are currently working with partners including an energy provider to develop a coachbot to help people make changes to improve indoor air quality, based on air quality monitoring data. Your version of the coachbot could be designed to help with active transport, energy conservation, reduced water usage, changing consumption patterns, reducing single-use plastics, etc. If it involved self-directed behaviour change, a coachbot can help.

Whilst improving wellbeing at work should focus on creating the right conditions for people to feel and be safe and thrive, helping people make one or more behaviour changes and take up helpful services also plays a role. We can help you design and offer a coachbot to help employees develop a personalised wellbeing plan, become more active, eat better, manage stress better, manage weight, attend screening or make any other change you and your workforce see as being helpful. We have a lot of tried and tested content you can offer too.

(Dr Anstiss worked for 10 years as an occupational health doctor for an NHS Trust. He has provided and provides wellbeing services and support for a range of other organisations including Arts Council England, GE Healthcare, Large Banks, NHS Trusts, Health Charities and Professional Sports Organisations).