A new campaign to shine a light on enterprise and innovation in the UK technology industry has been launched.
Digital health businesses have come together to support The First 100 which aims to put UK start-ups on the global stage.
Each of the 100 companies had to prove their innovation helped patients and clinicians in the NHS and private health sector.
Organisations listed include Foundry4, the company that remotely delivered the UK’s COVID-19 home testing service in just eight days and DrDoctor, a patient engagement platform provider, which is used by over 30 NHS trusts and has supported at-scale healthcare staff vaccination programmes.
IMMJ Systems has provided digitised records via the cloud, to enable numerous NHS trusts to deliver virtual clinics during the pandemic.
Some of their innovation will be picked up globally, and will be used as a foundation for the digitised healthcare in the future where remote monitoring, patient apps, AI and augmented reality are developed.
Hassan Chaudhury, of Healthcare UK, said: “The UK is at the forefront of transforming healthcare services by using digital solutions to prevent, diagnose, manage and treat illnesses more effectively, as well as putting solutions in the hands of patients.
“The First 100 articulates the exportable strengths that the UK has in health tech and showcases those that stand out for being tried and tested and most importantly, making a difference across one of the most complex health systems in the world, during its most challenging time.
“They’ve supported health and care professionals and patients in dealing with everyday issues and can undoubtably benefit other countries looking to solve problems to everyday health and care challenges.”
The chosen companies went through a vetting process, which assessed the global uniqueness of their innovation, responsiveness, track record of collaboration, successes within the NHS, and their ability and commitment to export and actively seeking international expansion.
Rachel Murphy, of Foundry4 said: “The past year has created a need to think differently, even radically, in the way we all approach healthcare – from creating patient facing services, workforce-based solutions, and using data in a more effective way. It’s incredibly powerful to be recognised for the contribution we’ve made to healthcare in doing just that.”
Tom Whicher, DrDoctor said: “Digital patient engagement is the key to sustainable healthcare. We have seen through COVID-19 how shifting to digital first care can help healthcare systems across the world with their toughest ever test; now there is the opportunity to not just survive, but thrive.
“It is hugely welcome that UK technology is being showcased through the First 100, so the country’s vibrant digital health community can showcase its talents to our global peers as healthcare providers face similar challenges in the months and years ahead.”
Healthcare UK is also creating a ‘25 Ones to Watch List’, which feature companies such as Cellen, which launched the first online chronic pain clinic and Pep Health, a company working with the NHS to use AI to collate real-time patient experience insights from over 10 million comments a year on social media, forums and surveys.
Mark Lomax, of Pep Health said: “With healthcare under tremendous pressure globally it has never been more important to understand in real-time what patients think.
“We know that by going directly to where patients are already talking about services we can identify areas of strength and weakness and help to measure care variability. This type of technology is easily transferable to international markets such as the US, so it’s fantastic to be recognised by this campaign.
The campaign is backed by Healthcare UK, European Connected Health Alliance (ECHA), Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI), Scottish Development International, Innovate UK, HIMSS and Silver Buck.
