Hanley Consulting, the health tech start-up behind the innovative patient access and engagement solution, EDATT, has appointed Keith Grimes as its Chief Digital Health Officer to support the launch of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered multi-lingual digital assistant.
Keith, with a background as a GP for 25 years and health tech and AI clinical safety specialist, joins the Hanley Consulting team to support robust testing, clinical safety and governance, around its new AI leveraged natural language processing tool.
Keith’s experience is diverse, spanning from innovative programmes in the NHS such as the Summary Care Record, Roving GP Service, and the use of Google Glass in care homes; to pioneering the use of VR in primary care for pain relief during wound care. In 2018, he joined UK telehealth company Babylon and led the clinical team in developing ground-breaking AI driven products such as Symptom Checker, Healthcheck, and the LLM powered Note Assistant. In 2023, he founded Curistica, a boutique innovation consultancy helping startups and businesses develop safe, effective and innovative health tech products.
The AI digital assistant launching this summer, builds on a foundation of GP practices utilising digital tools from Hanley Consulting to improve demand management, patient engagement and communication. In result, practices are seeing telephone call queues halve due to empowering patients to self-serve, increase uptake and support for the NHS App, improve patient satisfaction, and reducing strain on primary care teams.
The new solution leverages Microsoft Azure AI, to deliver a “safe and contained artificial intelligence chatbot, that can be tailored to individual practices needs”. The company notes the tool tackles the challenge of workforce pressures and costs, demand management 24/7, as well supporting patients to self-serve, and automate the handling and redirection of patient queries.
Keith Grimes, Chief Digital Health Officer, Hanley Consulting, commented: “Primary care is the frontline of healthcare in the UK, and at a time when we are faced with incredible demand it’s vital that we support patients and staff in getting timely access to the services they need. Max, Sharon, and the team at Hanley have already delivered a powerful tool to help meet that demand, and I’m excited to be working with them on taking it to the next level with the safe and effective use of the latest AI technologies.”
“We are delighted to welcome Keith to our team,” said Sharon, Managing Director at Hanley Consulting. “His unique blend of expertise in AI and commitment to clinical safety positions us perfectly to deliver a cutting-edge, secure AI solution to the NHS, enhancing patient access, care equity and resource allocation.”
Max Gattlin, Head of Product, added: “His vision aligns perfectly with our mission to leverage technology in addressing the demand and capacity challenges within UK Primary Care. Keith’s expertise will be invaluable in our efforts to increase efficiency across the wider healthcare system.”
The new AI digital assistant will be launched this summer, join the waiting list or book a demo at https://www.edatt.io/
Last month, HTN sat down with Max Gattlin and Sharon Hanley of Hanley Consulting, for a chat about their ‘Automated Assistant for General Practice’ EDATT (Enabling Digital Access Through Telephony). During this interview we focused on the impact of the solution which notes “telephone queue times halving within six months of deploying the automated assistant and a 10 percent increase in NHS App uptake across the board, with a number of practices exceeding 70 percent NHS App uptake within their populations – the highest in the country.”
