New schemes and funding opportunities are removing risk for hospitals and paving the way for startups to elbow their way into the NHS. A combination of money for startups and incentives for hospitals to buy from them is hoped to be the push needed to unleash a torrent of new ideas into the UK health service. Generating the most enthusiasm is …
Can startups save the NHS?
Several tech founders are trying to break into the NHS. How will their smartphone-powered ideas get on in an institution sceptical of change, underpinned by a notorious tangle of IT and bureaucracy? A near-sacred institution, the NHS has spent little time out of the public psyche since its inception in 1948. Today, far from being a celebrated feat of public welfare, …
Echo: a prescriptions app that links patients, doctors and pharmacists
Emblematic of the coming smartphone revolution in healthcare, Echo is a London-based startup that wants to do away with the laborious business of repeat prescriptions. Getting prescription meds in the post just isn’t as exciting as a new pair of shoes, a sales bargain or even a humble cookbook. Perhaps more importantly, it often places extraordinary demands on patients with …