PRESS RELEASE
Inhealthcare has taken two titles at the national Medilink awards for its pioneering work in the UK healthtech sector.
Bryn Sage, of Inhealthcare, said the event showcased the wider strength of the UK life sciences industry and its ability to create economic prosperity across the country.
Medilink is a national health technology business support organisation, with a strong track record in increasing the viability of manufacturers, service providers, designers, OEMs and suppliers of medical technology.
Inhealthcare collected the NHS collaboration award, sponsored by the AHSN Network, for its ground-breaking Health Callpartnership with trusts in the North East of England.
The company also won the prestigious Editor’s Award, sponsored by the website Digital Health Age.
Mr Sage said: “Of course, we are delighted to win these awards. I am very proud of our hard-working team and the digital health services we are delivering with our forward-looking partners in the NHS.
“The more important message though is about the huge growth potential of life sciences in the UK and how, with the right support from Government, this industry can rival the City of London and financial services as an engine of jobs and prosperity for the regions.”
The Health Call collaboration in the North East brings together six NHS trusts with an agreement to share successful innovations across an area of 3m people.
The collaboration aims to overcome duplication of efforts and “not invented here syndrome” to accelerate the adoption of proven healthcare technologies at scale.
Health Call is underpinned by Inhealthcare’s secure healthcare platform that supports the remote monitoring of the entire UK population.
The platform integrates seamlessly with NHS and GP systems and provides user-friendly interfaces for patients and healthcare professionals including web portal, mobile app, SMS, automated telephone call and Alexa.
The company has created a programming language, or toolkit, to build apps and services for the platform.
Inhealthcare is training NHS staff to use the toolkit.
More than 50 have completed the training to date, including Dr Mark Westwood, who is a North East family GP, chief clinical information officer at North Tynside CCG and primary care lead for the Great North Care Record.
He said: “It very quickly became apparent at the session that a clinician with ideas about patient care pathways finally has access to a ‘digital toolbox’.
“This has opened up a world of very smart IT geekery, where ideas for pathways can be co-designed and brought to life at scale within a very short iterative cycle.
“The future is here and now. It is time to spring clean your ideas about the world of the possible.”
Mr Sage added: “We are getting great feedback. We are creating a growing community of NHS staff who are using the toolkit to transform how care is delivered. This is how innovation spreads across the NHS.”
Inhealthcare has successfully deployed digital health services in Northern Ireland, Scotland, the North West, Yorkshire, the North East, the Midlands, East Anglia and the South East.
Its latest is a partnership with MSKassist, a new app to help doctors and physiotherapists combat the growing problems associated with obesity, physical inactivity and an ageing UK population.
Inhealthcare shared its experience as a leading SME in healthtech with the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee during its inquiry into the Government’s Life Sciences Industrial Strategy.
The committee’s report, ‘Who’s driving the bus?’ called on ministers to take bold steps to secure the future growth and expansion of the life sciences sector.