DigitalHealth.London names businesses that will be supported to take their digital health innovations to the NHS
DigitalHealth.London’s Accelerator programme today announces the details of 32 high potential small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that will be supported to refine and introduce their innovations into the NHS, improving the lives of patients and creating more efficient healthcare services.
Over the next year DigitalHealth.London’s Accelerator will provide in‐depth knowledge of the NHS to the businesses through a dedicated team of healthcare experts and direct links into healthcare providers across London. Digital Health (NHS) Navigators will work alongside the SMEs, helping them to engage with healthcare experts, to understand and respond to the needs of the market and gain first-hand advice on products in development.
Among the innovative businesses selected to be part of the first cohort is Sense.ly: a mobile app offering a virtual nurse, which uses artificial intelligence to guide patients through their health query 24/7. It works by directing patients to either a 111 clinician, to schedule a GP appointment, to locate clinical services, or get medical information and advice. Another business is MumoActive: a diabetes tracking tool that enables people with type 1 or 2 diabetes to track their key health metrics; including sugars, medicines, insulin and carbohydrate intake, to really take ownership of their health. DrDoctor is an appointment management tool facilitating communication between the hospital and the patient and lets patients choose their appointment times and complete digital assessments to avoid unnecessary extra visits.
Dr Charlie Davie, Managing Director of UCLPartners Academic Health Science Network, said: “A key challenge across the NHS is how we introduce digital innovations that support patients, citizens and health professionals in all aspects of health care delivery. The DigitalHealth.London Accelerator is an important step in bringing together innovators and businesses and linking them directly with patients and clinicians so that in partnership they can apply the best digital solutions to the most important health challenges and crucially deliver them at scale.”
Professor Keith McNeil, Chief Clinical Information Officer at NHS England, said: “Digital innovation has the power to directly enhance patient care, improve the sustainability of our systems and transform the way people access NHS services and manage their own health. We are already seeing the benefits to patients and NHS staff as we harness the potential of smart technology and we are investing hundreds of millions to move faster in realising such benefits across the entire health and social care system.”
Jenny Thomas, Accelerator Programme Director, said: “We’re delighted to welcome our very first Accelerator cohort and look forward to working with them closely over the next year. With ever-increasing pressures on health and care services, our ambition is to speed up the adoption of innovations at scale, ensuring that greater numbers of patients benefit from emerging new technology, more rapidly.”
The 32 companies that make up the 2016/17 Accelerator programme cohort are: 11 Health & Technologies Ltd, Affigo, Breaking Free Online Limited, Circular Wave Limited, Cinapsis, Club Soda Limited, Cupris Health, DefinitiveDX, DrDoctor, Healthlogistics Limited, Helicon Health Limited, Inhealthcare, iPlato Healthcare Ltd, LiveSmart UK Ltd, Lumeon, MedicaliQ, Medopad, Meedoc, MedShr, Molecular Warehouse, mumoActive, myrecovery, Now Healthcare Group, OurPath, Oviva, Perfect Ward, Physitrack, Propeller (part of Selfless), Revere Care, Sense.ly UK, SIME Diagnostics and Written Medicine.
119 companies competed for a place on the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator programme, and a group of over 60 senior NHS, commercial and technical experts assessed each company’s business credibility and the likely benefit their innovations could deliver at a pan‐London level.
The Accelerator sits within the DigitalHealth.London programme, an expert partnership made up of London’s three Academic Health Science Networks; Imperial College Health Partners, the Health Innovation Network and UCLPartners; Medcity; and NHS England. Its aim is to speed up the adoption of digital health solutions in the capital. The Accelerator is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.