Press releases
Legal & General Group Protection launches new ‘Virtual Clinic’ to its wellbeing support framework
Virtual GP and mental health support, including child mental health consultations, forms part of the new on demand healthcare services to help provide better workplace wellbeing.
11 Jul 2022
Legal & General Group Protection today announces the launch of its new Virtual Clinic, which centres on the addition of a new Virtual GP and mental health support service from Teladoc Health. This brings to employees everything from 24/7/365 access to GPs, to mental wellbeing support and counselling, plus a service for family members: child mental health consultations. The latter provides support with aspects such as behavioural techniques; gaining a better psychological understanding of the child’s perspective; and information on how to navigate the mental health system.
The new Virtual GP and mental health support service is available to all their existing and new Group Income Protection (GIP) clients.
Virtual Clinic is provided on a modular basis, so it can complement any existing wellbeing services the client might have in place.
Legal & General says the new services sit alongside and complement its existing digital health support services, as part of the company’s outcomes-focused wellbeing framework announced last year; Be Well, Get Better, Be Supported.
The framework aims to help employees and their immediate families:
Be Well – By actively managing employee wellbeing
Legal & General’s Employee Assistance Programme in partnership with Health Assured is designed to help employees live happier, healthier lives and it is offered at no extra cost. Whether it’s mental, physical or financial problems employees face, Health Assured offer a helpline to their wellbeing experts. Where appropriate, employees can also receive up to eight sessions of structured counselling. The wellbeing helpline service is available 24/7, 365 to all employees of their group income protection customers.
Through this partnership, Legal & General also provide access to My Healthy Advantage, Health Assured’s health and wellbeing app, which offers a wide array of proactive wellbeing tools and features. These features have been carefully developed to improve mental and physical health – allowing users to set bespoke goals using personalised metrics.
Get Better – When accident or illness strikes
The new Virtual GP service from Teladoc Health provides fast and direct access to GPs, including those with an extended specialist role. Features include: 30-minute consultations; 90% of calls handled within 4 hours; private prescription service – same day/next day, 7 days a week; sick notes at no cost; private specialist referral at no cost, employees can access the service via app, web portal or phone.
In addition to the child mental health services outlined previously, Teladoc Health’s mental health service also includes single session therapy for adults provided by Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Practitioner Psychologists, giving access to specialised focused psychological support.
Be Supported – When employees need it most
Earlier this year, Legal & General announced its partnership with HCI (Health and Care Innovations Limited) to bring long-term condition management app CONNECTPlus to individuals.
HCI co-designed CONNECTPlus with NHS clinicians and patients to provide easy access to high quality, ready-made health information and digital tools that support people to manage their whole health in one place and it has been successfully implemented within numerous NHS Foundation Trusts.
A bespoke version of the app has been developed with Legal & General for employers to empower individuals living with the long-term impacts of: Cancer; Multiple Sclerosis; Type 2 Diabetes; Stroke; Post Covid; Rheumatoid Arthritis. It provides interactive access to clinically assured information, plus pain and symptom trackers and medication management, with a view to helping employees and their families to cope, as well as supporting Line Managers and HR to better understand an employee’s situation and the support they might need.
Everything in one place
These services also complement other established online and face-to-face services as part of Legal & General’s Be Well, Get Better, Be Supported framework, such as: the Be Well Hub – a one-stop-shop for employers, providing access to a range of wellbeing resources, including signposting, education material and a HR Communication Toolkit; the Be Well Helpline – a direct line for employers and intermediaries to vocational clinical specialists, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational health advisers and occupational therapists, for help to support employees to remain in work if they are showing signs of struggling; the Post Covid support service and the Care Concierge service.
James Walker, Head of Product and Proposition at Legal & General Group Protection: “We are delighted to partner with Teladoc Health – a proven and highly-regarded virtual care provider – as part of the evolution of our Be Well, Get Better, Be Supported framework. The Virtual Clinic builds on our existing wellbeing services to provide a comprehensive, personalised and digital framework to help employers support and empower their employees; whether they face short- or long- term conditions, and whether they need physical, psychological or social support – or a combination of these.
“It’s a framework that supports the now well-evidenced, and increasingly popular, view that good work is good for health. And it’s a framework that has flexibility according to client needs built in: avoiding duplication of services for some; ensuring equity of support for others.”
Where a minimum of 60% of all employees are covered by our group income protection, we can consider offering the Virtual GP service to all employees for that employer.
The information contained in this press release is intended solely for journalists and should not be relied upon by private investors or any other persons to make financial decisions.
Further information
Notes to editors
Established in 1836, Legal & General is one of the UK's leading financial services groups and a major global investor, with £1.2 trillion in total assets under management1 of which 40% is international. We have a unique and highly synergistic business model, which continues to drive strong returns. Legal & General provides powerful asset origination and management capabilities directly to clients, which also underpin our leading retirement and protection solutions. We are a leading international player in Pension Risk Transfer, in UK and US life insurance, and in UK workplace pensions and retirement income. Our purpose is to improve the lives of our customers and create value for our shareholders. Through inclusive capitalism, we are investing in long-term assets, such as real estate and infrastructure, that can help build a better society for the future.
1Data as at 31 December 2023.
Legal & General Retail helps create brighter financial futures for all our customers. The division covers the savings, protection and retirement needs of our c.14 million retail policyholders and workplace members.
In 2023, we had total individual annuity sales of £1,431 million, and issued £299 million of Lifetime Mortgages and Retirement Interest Only Mortgages. Our Workplace pension platform served 5.2 million members, while our Protection businesses gave peace of mind to several million direct, group and US customers, taking in £1,991 million of UK and $1,584 million of US gross written premiums.