All the accoutrements of the kidult, forward-thinking workplace are present: free toast and cereals, ping-pong tables that double as large desks for team meetings. The result is a long, open-plan office with fake trees and hanging plants dotted around. Ali Parsa, the founder of Babylon, bristled at such extravagance and decided to oversee the decorations himself. A tough brief, you’d imagine, and the original designers estimated a cost of £1,000 per square foot. The offices of Babylon in South Kensington have been designed to evoke the hanging gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. But the bigger question is what impact online doctors will have on the provision of healthcare in the UK: are they a valuable tool to reduce the demands on our overloaded doctors and nurses or are they, as one GP I spoke to said, opening “a door to NHS destruction”? In my case, it provided peace of mind 10 days quicker than if I’d waited to see my GP. Babylon offers its triage services, which advise on the urgency of treatment, free, but to speak to a doctor, it’s a rolling monthly payment of £4.99 or a one-off fee of £25. It was a very thorough service, but there was a cost. Two days later, my phone beeped with a message to check how I was feeling. If I had needed a prescription, it would have been sent within the hour to a local pharmacy. Soon after the consultation, in case I’d forgotten anything, a video of it was available on my Babylon app and I was sent a short text from Dr Patel that summarised his findings and advice. They are non-cancerous and can be left alone, as long as they don’t change in size or shape. ![]() There were some surreal moments: as I tried to show Dr Patel my neck, I was reminded of an Amy Schumer comedy sketch on the precariousness and indignity of sexting.īut he was engaged and reassuring, calling back when the video feed dropped, and after a few prompts he determined we were probably looking at a sebaceous cyst. Our appointment was much like a regular exchange with a GP. At exactly 3.30pm, he materialised on my phone and welcomed me to Babylon. ![]() As I waited to speak to him, I learned from his biographical detail that he was practising in Leeds, that he’d visited five of the seven continents and enjoyed cycling and skiing. I selected a GP and a video call and was booked in to see Dr Patel 34 minutes later.
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