Nurse advisory services: highly valued differentiator for employers

Providing third-party nurse advisory services is shown to be a highly valued differentiator for employers offering benefits to their staff, according to new research from RedArc.

A range of questions relating to the quality and usefulness of RedArc’s service achieved a 99% success rate and individuals also highlighted the value of being listened to (99%).

Personal nurse advisers work with employers, insurers, intermediaries, and membership organisations, adding value to employee benefits, insurance products and employee assistance programmes, to provide long-term practical advice and emotional support to help people cope in times of physical and mental illness, disability, trauma or bereavement.

Other positive feedback scoring a good or excellent rating from over 95% of patients included:

• Having an empathetic nurse to take the call
• The ability to express and discuss the problems that were most important
• Being given appropriate information and guidance on how to resolve these problems
• Ongoing contact and support for as long as it was needed.

Participants of the survey were invited to share their experiences and the following responses highlight the general sentiments of employees who have benefited from such a service:

• “It shows your employer is going the extra mile for your health.”
• “Invaluable – having access to someone outside of the organisation to provide support.”

Competition for recruitment and retention
Added-value support has become much more mainstream in recent years with many more employers offering specialist support to their employees to help differentiate them and be an employer of choice. Results like this show the extent of that differentiation, and can have a demonstrable effect in helping recruitment, retention and engagement – providing a direct, tangible and positive result on their bottom line.

However RedArc offers a word of caution to employers investigating added-value services to truly understand what they are buying in to, as light-touch support is at risk of only addressing the tip of the iceberg and not fully helping an individual when they are most in need.

Christine Husbands, managing director for RedArc says:

“Initially RedArc was set up to support those dealing with a critical illness claim and whilst it’s true to say that the essence of our service has been constant – offering professional support from qualified nurses – the proposition has developed hugely across both individual and group schemes.

“Via numerous partners, we’re still there for people when they are suffering from a physical illness or accident but we are now just as likely to deal with someone experiencing serious mental health problems, bereavement or trauma too. It’s the excellence of our nurse support that stays the same and has helped us grow so much in this market.”

More positive comments

“The service has proved to be really helpful to me. Knowing that there is someone there that I can talk to if necessary has been a great help.”

“A caring lovely friendly service and someone who listens to you.”

“This is a great service and I was unaware that this service was part of our insurance. I will definitely recommend.”

“I found it very helpful to speak to someone after coming out of hospital to no other support available.”

“The initial contact from my dedicated nurse came at a crucial time when I did not know where to turn.”

“I would recommend without hesitation.”