With tens of thousands of retired medics asked to return to work and a quarter of a million volunteers needed to help the NHS through the coronavirus crisis, OurPeople has developed a free version of its popular team communication platform, specifically for the NHS and wider care sector.

Crucially, this will enable dissemination of vital information to teams, without the chatter and noise prevalent through most other workplace engagement platforms and consumer-based Apps.

OurPeople Now, which can be deployed within days, will enable managers of frontline services and other care sector workers to send vital comms, including images and files, to doctors, nurses, ancillary staff and care workers, alerting them to critical information and any changes to their working practices. Communication can be targeted, ensuring information is relevant, and will help to keep teams operational and informed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

The move comes as Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, announced a new hospital, Nightingale Hospital, will be opened at the ExCel Centre in East London, providing a further 4,000 beds for people struck down with the deadly virus.

OurPeople Now is GDPR compliant and company controlled, and allows management and staff to:

Instantly communicate to teams in real time

Share documents and video files

View real-time reporting of when comms are delivered and when they have been read

OurPeople has seen a 55% increase in messaging and broadcasts in the past week through the full version of the platform, with existing clients taking advantage of a 95% engagement and read rate by their teams, ensuring they are up to date with relevant information as the COVID-19 situation develops.

In light of the pandemic, the team behind the platform has been working 24/7 to develop OurPeople Now, a basic version of the App, to enable businesses to communicate remotely with care staff for free until the crisis passes.

Founder and CEO of OurPeople, Ross McCaw, says: “In these unprecedented times it’s more important than ever that we pull together to do whatever we can to help each other. As our specialism has always been communicating to deskless or remote workers, we understand what’s needed to keep these teams running, engaged and informed. One crucial piece of feedback we had for the development of this free App, was to enable managers to communicate without the noise of non vital chatter. For the NHS and businesses and organisations within the care environment we are offering OurPeople Now for free, for the duration of the crisis, to help keep teams running.”

OurPeople was founded in 2016 and is already used by well-known brands in the UK and the USA, including Serco, Virgin Active and Paulton’s Park, who send hundreds of thousands of broadcasts to employees on a weekly basis. There is also the ability to communicate by SMS text message with people that don’t own a smartphone.

Anyone interested should email [email protected].