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Are you ready for a new GIANT Thinking podcast episode?
We are super excited and we can't wait to listen to MedicalChain CEO Dr Abdullah Albeyatti - "The Healthcare System is Fragmented". Today, 10:00 am. Click here to download and listen.
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Longevity Series webinars by R42 Institute
Starting from 30th September until 16th December. We can share a 20% discount code on a limited number of tickets. Find out more here or contact Anastasiya.
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Brills Partnership with GIANT 2020 to enable and encourage your network to take part in our two-day health-tech event for enthusiasts, innovators, leaders, helpers, drivers, and enablers.
What we are offering One complimentary ticket to the partner's organization (worth up to £495) A discount code to offer your network 25% off tickets Promote partner's organization both online (event website, a newsletter with 177k subscribers, social media promotion) and offline (event brochure, banners) using your logo and short intro What we would ask in return Promote GIANT Health event and other GIANT's initiatives online / offline on your events page, website, newsletter, social media, Slack or whatever medium works best for you Tweet at least 12 mentions before the event at your cadence, that will always include tracked link, the #GIANTHealth2020 hashtag and @gianthealthevnt tag Where possible, reposts from GIANT Health social media accounts
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Doctorpreneurs is a non-profit organisation and global community for doctors
Doctorpreneurs is a non-profit organisation and global community for doctors, medical students and individuals passionate about healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship. They interview established healthcare innovators and entrepreneurs, organise and promote healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship themed events, and provide career…
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GIANT Thinking podcast is LIVE NOW!
Please can you support us and download the first episode at the same time to try and get iTunes to take notice. Download here
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What is Hospify?
Ill-served by inefficient, out-dated communication, over 600,000 NHS professionals are currently using consumer messaging services like WhatsApp to supplement communication. But the arrival of GDPR regulations in May 2018 rendered healthcare institutions whose employees use these consumer tools to handle…
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Humanity Inc. launches with $2.5m fundraise
Humanity Inc, a new HealthTech app, has officially launched from stealth mode with a $2.5m seed funding round. The investment round was led by US fund, One Way Ventures, and featured a total of 46 investors including HealthTech Angel investor Esther Dyson, Seedcamp, Jane Metcalfe (co-founder of Wired Magazine), and Michael Acton-Smith and Alex Tew (co-founders of Calm app). Developed by serial entrepreneurs Peter Ward and Michael Geer, Humanity is on a mission to help people live healthier, longer lives. Through tracking key ageing biomarkers, alongside personal characteristics and lifestyle choices, the freemium subscription service uses AI and scientific algorithms to uniquely allow users to monitor their rate of ageing and show them what actions they can take to slow it down, or even reverse it. Humanity is Peter Ward’s latest venture after founding WAYN.com (Where Are You Now?), which was sold to lastminute.com after growing its user base to 20 million. Michael Geer previously scaled Badoo to over 70 million users as part of the founding team, and as COO helped lead AnchorFree to 900m users and a $310m exit. Aubrey de Grey commented: “There has been more focus on the science of agieng in recent years causing an acceleration of breakthroughs. However, we still need ways to deliver these discoveries directly to the people.
Read moreMental health platform Myndr receives £300k backing
UK mental health and wellness platform Myndr has laid down its plans for UK growth and expansion having received a £300,000 backing from the government’s Innovate UK programme. Based in Newcastle Upon Tyne and set up by North East Young Entrepreneur of the year Lizzy Hodcroft and entrepreneur Emma Reilly, founder of The Brave & The Bold clothing line, Myndr is an innovative digital learning and support platform that helps company leaders and its employees help battle common mental health issues via peer-to-peer support. Myndr aims to create an anonymous platform that allows those suffering from common mental health issues to seek help from others who have experienced similar problems. Emma and Lizzy have experienced mental health issues first-hand and have spoken openly about their struggles with depression, anxiety and addiction, as well as their frustrations with the lack of options for mental health care. Co-founder Lizzy Hodcroft, said: “We’re incredibly honoured and proud to have received this grant. Most of the funds will be used towards further development and content for the app as we have high expectations to deliver a platform that is contextually smart as well as impactful with practical, actionable steps and content. “We have already recruited new members of staff that will help us drive the service forward are they’re helping with the agile dev to get data into the system fast.” Co-founder Emma Reilly added: “Apart from the obvious benefit to our users in terms of support and action plans for their mental health, we are also very proud that we can offer a helping hand to many that have found themselves without a job or income during this time. “Because of the Innovate Grant and its timing, we have been able to reach out to professionals, freelancers, doctors, peers and so many others to help to provide Myndr with courses, content and suggestions and in turn pay these amazing individuals for their service. Although we aren’t able to completely solve any financial issues for people, we are very proud that we can support in some way.” Cllr Ged Bell, Newcastle City Council’s cabinet member for employment and culture, added: “One in four people in the UK will suffer some form of mental health problem each year, and the cost to that individual, their family and wider society can be colossal. “Particularly at this most difficult of times it is great to see a Newcastle business securing investment, supporting jobs and looking to lead the way in tackling one of our greatest public health challenges.” Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. Since 2007, it has invested around £2.5 billion to help businesses across the country to innovate, with match funding from industry taking the total value of projects above £4.3 billion. It has also helped 8,500 organisations create around 70,000 jobs and added an estimated £18 billion of value to the UK economy.
Read moreGeography Is No Longer A Barrier To Safe Surgical Care
The Flexner report, a series of studies about education in healthcare, published just over 100 years ago sparked radical reforms in the education of healthcare professionals. The result was the creation of a curriculum that equipped healthcare professionals with a knowledge base that contributed to the doubling of lifespan during the 20th century. Recently the Lancet report on "Global Surgery" has highlighted that all is not well in global surgery, this may well be a stimulus for reform of the current surgical training and delivery model. The Lancet commission finds that whilst there are just over seven billion people on earth, five billion do not have access to safe surgery. These inequalities exist both within and between countries, a reminder that geography remains a strong determinant of patient outcomes. The global situation is impacted doubly by an aging population that is driving demand; as well as, a reduced workforce supply with a dwindling talent pool of surgeons. The latest figures argue the global surgical workforce will need to double in the next 15 years to cope with current demands. The global impact is such that both the World Health Organisation and World Bank said in 2014 that identifying and improving surgical capabilities is an essential step to raising health and economic standards around the world. In a world that has never been so well connected, where a "tweet" can behave like a virus, quickly becoming epidemic, and where technology has enabled video conversations across multiple time zones, why have we been unable to improve the standard of surgical training and delivery globally? Geography Is No Longer A Barrier To Safe Surgical (Credit: Touch Surgery) To begin with, surgery operates in silos. Surgeons around the world don't have access to equal levels of training, nor the opportunity to learn the latest and most effective surgical techniques. Such a learning gap, largely based around geography, impacts patients, but also starves the global healthcare community of many more people who could help, if they had the opportunity. Furthermore, utilising technologies that enable repetitive flexible learning opportunities with objective feedback, could significantly reduce the learning curve and therefore the time to achieve proficiency. As a result the supply of a proficient surgical workforce required to meet the demand of the aging population could be significantly improved. Investment in global health professional education is about US$100 billion per year, again with great disparities between countries. This amount is less than 2% of health expenditure worldwide ($5.5 trillion) which is modest for a labour-intensive and talent-driven industry. The average cost per graduate is $113,000 for medical students and $46,000 for nurses. Stewardship, accreditation, and learning systems are weak and unevenly practiced around the world. Although a considerable additional investment is required by state, private and public enterprises in training surgical professionals, that investment over the long term can be offset through the use of scalable technology systems which reduce inefficiencies and wastage. It's not all bad news. There are some really impressive efforts at addressing global healthcare. Syrian doctors are performing life-saving operations with Skype; and surgeon John Langell developed the Xenoscope to bring minimally invasive surgery to regions of the world that can't afford it. Each is a fantastic example of our greatest minds solving big problems. But, how can we go even further? For Touch Surgery co-founder Andre Chow and I, the global proliferation of mobile phones - and, indeed, the internet - presented an opportunity for progress. We think that by integrating cutting-edge surgical mapping and visualization with game development, VR/AR, we can take deep procedural knowledge and create ground-breaking simulations, allowing surgeons to practice complex surgical procedures before stepping into the operating room - wherever in the world that OR may be. Now, access to support and training is in the palm of our hands. What's more, the modules on Touch Surgery, created in partnership with universities like Harvard and John Hopkins, are being used by resident surgeons the world over, in countries like Russia and Spain, and even as far afield as Cambodia. We're seeing incredibly promising results, and so we'll continue to push forward. What all of these efforts demonstrate - those by Touch Surgery, and doctors the world over - is the power of technology to help us break down the geographical barriers to raising the standard of surgery everywhere. Surgery at its core is about people and the unique encounter between a patient who needs help and a surgical team entrusted to deliver care. The driving force for professional education must therefore be to augment the performance of the surgical team and their tools/ medical devices to meet the needs of patients and populations in an equitable and efficient manner. There is not going to be a technology silver bullet or just one solution. Supporting training of surgical teams with technology to drive better performance is just a start. We can only hope to have the same effect on lifespan / patient outcomes as the curriculum changes associated with the Flexner report. We don't yet have all the answers, but by combining intelligence and expertise from the business, engineering and medical worlds, there's hope in truly innovative solutions to the world's biggest health problems. References http://www.physiciannursesupply.com/Articles/physician-workforce-study-2007.pdf
Read moreHow Health Tech Could Solve The Sexual Health Crisis
Sexual health is in crisis. Last week saw record demand for sexual health services in the UK, amid funding cuts. We are seeing a rise in new super-bugs STI’s, like drug-resistant gonorrhoea, along with the return of old diseases like syphilis, with the largest number of diagnoses since 1949. While the headlines are bleak, we have a real opportunity to disrupt the way we treat this problem in the 21st century. And health tech is undoubtedly the cure, not just for patients, but for the NHS. Despite the high demand for sexual health services, a report from Public Health England shows that between 2016 and 2017 there was an 8% decline in the number of chlamydia tests. In addition, at a patient level, the current way sexual healthcare is provided can feel inconvenient, confusing, or even daunting: many do not want to wait weeks for an appointment, do not have time to wait in the waiting room, and feel scared at the prospect of face-to-face conversations about their sex life with a doctor. People fear the experience will be uncomfortable and embarrassing. As a doctor, I would say there is no need for this fear, of course. I would never judge a patient and, like me, most doctors have “seen it all”. However, we have to take the stigma people feel around sexual health really seriously. This fear is paralysing and dangerous. Suffering in silence can cause long-term damage for people. An easily treatable infection like chlamydia, when undiagnosed and untreated, can cause long-term problems with fertility, and can spread throughout the population. It means that men experiencing erectile dysfunction delay going to the doctor, facing untold anxiety and putting them at risk of the effects of underlying health conditions going undetected. In many case, erectile dysfunction is also a symptom of problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, all of which have serious long term health consequences. Health-tech presents a huge opportunity to radically improve access to sexual health conditions. For example, we know that about 70-80% men with erectile dysfunction delay seeking help, but when they do want information, they go online. To the tech native GenZ – often the target of sexual health campaigns – online is their natural entry point for most services. It is the obvious pathway to improve the way that sexual healthcare is reached and accessed. Being able to access compassionate, caring, advice and treatment from a doctor, at a time that suits you, from your computer or smartphone, with tests and medication couriered to your door, removes the barriers to healthcare that most patients experience. It is not only more convenient, but removes that nagging fear of judgement. For people living far away from a sexual health clinic, this makes all the difference between the chance to be treated, or leaving symptoms unchecked. Far from being impersonal, I find patients share more detailed information about their symptoms and concerns, when I talk to them online or on the phone. They are also far more likely to be honest about their sexual behaviour. They feel comfortable to open up, and the richness of information that I can gather is like nothing I experience when practising medicine face to face. Of course, this helps me to treat the patient much more thoroughly, effectively, and even more compassionately, as I can reassure them about the worries and concerns they could never bring themselves to tell another doctor. In my own online GP practice we have performed over two million consultations, and are able treat at least double the number of patients each day than our colleagues in GP surgeries can. The benefits for the NHS to embrace digital health is massive, from a cost and efficiency perspective. The tech focused Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock has pledged £400 million in tech transformation for the NHS. He would be wise to invest in re-inventing the way that we deal with sexual health in the UK through digital. It really is the best medicine for the current crisis.
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Liva Healthcare's Chief Commercial Officer, Jonas Hjortshøj, has been featured in Pharma Times latest 'smart people' feature discussing his role at Liva Healthcare
Liva has tremendous potential to revolutionise the healthcare industry. Liva also has an impressive team of senior healthcare leaders. Over the past 10 years Jonas held a number of commercial and finance roles in Novo Nordisk, building a deep understanding of patient and…
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Mediaplanet are launching the Digital Health campaign
Mediaplanet are launching the Digital Health campaign which will be distributed with the Guardian newspaper and online at Businessandindustry.co.uk. The campaign will explore the potential digital technology has to improve healthcare with editorial insights from ABHI, techUK, the World Economic…
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