42 V2 Monday December 6 2021 | the times
Business
Companies are offering innovative solutions to
solve pressing challenges, reports Hannah Prevett
GOING FOR GROWTH
Tech start-ups answer the
call to action in healthcare
B
en Maruthappu was
working as an adviser to
Sir Simon Stevens, chief
executive of the NHS, when
he had the idea of creating
the NHS Innovation Accelerator. As a
trainee doctor, he had seen at first-
hand the time pressures faced by
clinicians and thought that theadoption of new technologies could
free them up to spend more time with
patients.
“There was so much potential for
technology to improve healthcare
services, but it wasn’t getting the scale
it deserved across the NHS. I thought,
‘Let’s build a programme that
supports entrepreneurs, innovators
and people with technology-based
products that are proven to work and
therefore are almost no-brainer
innovations that can be spread across
the country to benefit patients and to
reduce costs.’ ” The innovations
developed by companies on the
accelerator programme had since
benefited millions of patients,
Maruthappu, 33, said.
Nearly two years into the Covid-19
pandemic, however, the challenges
facing the NHS are numerous, not
least the 12 million people who could
be on NHS waiting lists by 2025,
according to National Audit Office
estimates. The government has
suggested that increased digitisation
could be part of the solution. In a
speech made during London Tech
Week in September, Sajid Javid, the
health secretary, said that the
adoption of digital technologies was
essential to increase the time spent
on patient care.
This, then, could be the moment for
health technology firms to shine.
Cera, Maruthappu’s business, which
uses artificial intelligence to provide
at-home care more efficiently, is one
of Europe’s fastest-growing
companies. Instead of relying on pen
and paper to capture patient updates,
all information is recorded in an app
that, using machine learning, will
raise red flags if there is anything
unusual. The company estimates that
its technology results in 45 per cent
fewer hospitalisations as patients can
be treated more quickly for arising
health problems.
Maruthappu started Cera in 2016
after experiencing difficulty in getting
the right care for his mother after a
back injury. It now has more than
10,000 employees. “It was really clear
to me that by adopting technologies
in the home care and home
healthcare setting that other sectors
or industries have already used, we
could remove some of these pain
points. We could allow people to
focus more on delivering great care
instead of being caught up by
paperwork.”
The company has raised its game inresponse to the pandemic and has
provided more than ten million
healthcare visits to older people since
March last year. It will generate
revenue of £133.6 million this year, up
from £44.2 million last year.
Healthy.io is another health
technology business on the rise. It
was founded in Israel in 2013 by
Yonatan Adiri, 39, but its biggest
market is Britain, where it is led by
Katherine Ward, 52. She previously
spent 15 years working in the NHS.
More than 30 NHS organisations
are now using Healthy.io products,
which use AI technology to transformKatherine Ward, of Healthy.io, whoseA
s we recover from the
depths of the pandemic,
labour market data gives
us reasons to be
optimistic, showing that
the number of payrolled employees
grew by 0.6 per cent in October
compared with the previous month.
However, in the face of continuingsupply chain challenges, regional
economic disparities and
inflationary pressures, the need to
lift the UK’s persistently poor
productivity performance has never
been more urgent.
This can be achieved only if
government and businesses work
together to strengthen regional
economic clusters across the UK
and deliver on the government’s
aspirations to “level up” our nation.
According to research from the
Centre for Cities, the BritishBusiness has a key
role in levelling up
Sir Roger Carr
Comment