Here, we present finalists for the HTN Now Awards 2024 in the category of Health Tech Case Study of the Year.
Suvera
Overview: SouthEast London ICB (SEL ICB) engaged Suvera to improve hypertension management across two PCNs in Lewisham. In just six months, Suvera reduced systolic blood pressure by an average 10.3 mmHg per patient and achieved 80 percent engagement rates in Core20PLUS5 populations.
Why? Historically, Lewisham has been one of the lowest performing boroughs in SEL ICB for hypertension achieving 55.12 percent (25 percent below the national ambition of 77 percent). Lewisham is also an area of significant health inequalities ranking among the 15 percent most deprived local authorities in the country.
What happened? Patients were invited to enrol in Suvera’s virtual clinic and submit blood pressure readings in the Suvera App. Individuals were then reviewed and managed by Suvera’s experienced team of clinical pharmacists. GP supervision was also provided by Suvera. Partner practices received comprehensive support and could access Suvera Planner, which provided data insights on patients’ progress in the virtual clinic including targets completed. Of the 5000 patients invited, almost 70 percent were within the Core20PLUS5 population. Almost 16,000 blood pressure submissions were made by patients and over 1000 lifestyle questionnaires were completed during the course of the programme. Most importantly, the virtual clinic significantly improved patients’ blood pressure. Upon enrolment in the program, Suvera reduced patients’ systolic blood pressure by an average of 10.3 mmHg per patient. Of patients who submitted blood pressure readings, 70.3 percent achieved control post-intervention. 52 percent moved from stage 3 to a lower-risk level, preventing possible CVD events. Moreover, results from the programme demonstrate a reduction in GP appointments, secondary admissions and adverse events combined with cost savings across primary and secondary care, illustrating system impact and return on investment.
Looking ahead. Suvera is now in final discussions for a SEL ICB wide-roll out and is being adopted in 2 other ICBs in England.
The Walton Centre NHS Trust
Overview: “Virtual Environmental Rehabilitation Asssistant – VERA” – A technology innovation within a Complex Rehabilitation environment.
Why? This study aims to evaluate the implementation process and outcomes of placing the VERA digital technology in a complex neurological inpatient rehabilitation setting, including training components, and to explore the adoption of the technology by service users and staff.
What happened? Utilising co-design principles, service-users, clinicians, application developers and academics developed the Virtual Engagement Rehabilitation Assistant (VERA). Accessed through an iPad, VERA provides focused exercises, activities and information, seeking to increase service-user engagement in rehabilitation. From development of the original idea a multi-disciplined design team was configured. This consisted of clinical, academic and technology development partners. Patient and Staff Focus Groups were used to refine the original ideas and facilitate the development of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Data surrounding the feasibility, acceptability and usability of VERA has been collected through the use of appropriate outcome measures and focus groups for both patients and staff. Analytics are also collected continually during the use of VERA that further inform analysis of adoption. The first iteration of VERA has been developed and integrated into practice within our complex rehabilitation unit. A research trial looking into the adoption of VERA as a piece of healthcare technology has been undertaken with the data analysed and presented. VERA has proved to be a useful adjunct to treatment programmes within our complex rehabilitation environment. Rich data has been gathered surrounding the feasibility and usability of the software which will be used to inform future practice.
Looking ahead. Plans are to continue to improve on the usability of VERA, to add new content, to look at integrating digital records and VERA content, to look at adoption research in alternative healthcare environments, to improve patient accessibility, and to look at a business/commercial model to facilitate marketability.
Cogniss
Overview: The Melanatal app, developed by Ruby Jackson using Cogniss’s no-code platform, tackles health inequities by addressing disproportionate deaths among women and babies of colour. This is a replicable framework for innovators to quickly and cost-effectively build, launch and scale patient-centric solutions, tailored for underserved populations.
Why? In the UK, Black women are nearly four times more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, compared to white women, and black babies have the highest rate of both stillbirth and neonatal death. The 2021 Mbrrace report also found that women with Asian or mixed ethnicities are almost twice as likely to die as white women.
What happened? Despite the potential for inclusive, tailored and scalable digital solutions to improve outcomes for underserved populations, innovation is frequently hindered by high costs of app development, ongoing maintenance, regulatory compliance and system integration. Recognising this gap, Cogniss launched the Priority Population Challenge, sponsored by AWS, the Validitron and Cogniss, offered a fully-funded opportunity for entrepreneurs to commercial app build using the Cogniss no-code platform. Cogniss empowers healthcare experts and organisations to create their own technologies using a purpose-built no-code platform without need for software developers or any technical knowledge. The approach offers entrepreneurs the ability to create digital health solutions in a matter of weeks not years, and at 90 percent of the cost of traditional software development. Cogniss streamlines compliance with a range of global regulations and standards such as ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials due to its technical architecture and its partnership with an automated platform to self-certify DTAC. Ruby’s app has received widespread recognition, including press and radio coverage by major outlets like the BBC, and is now being piloted within a major London NHS Trust with the aim to roll this out nationally and internationally.
Looking ahead. This case study showcases a replicable framework for developing patient-centric apps that can reach underserved populations where it was previously not economically or technically viable. It highlights how the NHS can bridge the digital divide, ensuring no one is left behind during its digitisation.
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and RLDatix
Overview: Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has seen notable staff wellbeing improvements since it introduced the TBR system, supported by RLDatix’s Allocate Optima platform, which gives staff greater input and insight into how shift patterns are drawn up on the teams’ rotas.
Why? The TBR system was introduced to address challenges in the existing variable rota system, which made it difficult to give staff, including nurses, with responsibilities outside of work the fixed working arrangements they needed. It also made life difficult for ward managers who lacked choice about how to organise their teams’ shifts.
What happened? The Trust began its TBR implementation journey with a pilot programme in 2021 at Charing Cross Hospital. Once the problems with the existing rota system had been identified, the next step was to design and implement the pilot TBR programme. A key consideration was how to provide the means for staff to use the existing Optima platform to provide input into the wider roster. A series of incentivised surveys gathered comprehensive feedback from colleagues who had worked at least one fully team-based roster period. This deployment feedback was then used to revalidate and refine Optima’s templates and user account rules, before a second round of pilots were carried out, ahead of an extended TBR rollout process. Following this, in 2024/25 the Trust’s rostering team mobilised to deploy TBR to further willing areas within the organisation and to measure its success through roster data obtained from Optima and through the use of employee surveys. When asked if they felt that TBR has helped them feel ‘less exhausted by work demands’, 85 percent strongly agreed or agreed, and 76 percent strongly agreed or agreed that their work-life balance had improved. Thirdly, this initiative has, alongside wider efforts, seen Imperial College Healthcare boost its staff retention, with an increase in staff reporting that they see nursing as their chosen profession.
Looking ahead. At the time of writing, Imperial College Healthcare has 40 areas that have gone live with TBR, with several more areas planning to adopt this rostering method and others actively going through the deployment process.
Open Medical
Overview: Open Medical and BHRUT partnered to improve preoperative digital health by listening to patient representatives. They uncovered a need for emotional and social support, leading to more inclusive technology and vital research to inspire healthcare change.
Why? There’s a 19-year gap in healthy life expectancy between the most and least affluent areas in the UK. People in deprived areas often develop multiple long-term health conditions 10 to 15 years earlier than their wealthier counterparts. These disparities highlight systemic barriers that prevent equitable access to care.
What happened? Together with BHRUT, and with funding from the National Institute for Healthcare Research (NIHR), we set out to transform this process. Through three online focus groups, we engaged with Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) participants representing minority ethnic groups who had diverse experiences, and held discussions with healthcare professionals. We took the PPI participants through the digital screening process for surgical procedures when hospitals utilise our cloud-based software for preoperative assessments, Pathpoint ePOA. The system works by sending patients a digital questionnaire as soon as they are scheduled for surgery and added to a waiting list. The patients are then automatically scored for case complexity and risk stratified depending on their response, allowing for maximal time for optimisation for surgery. Patients shared problems of navigating digital tools while struggling with language barriers or limited technical skills. The biggest problem was the lack of emotional and social support within the preoperative care pathway. Healthcare professionals echoed this. The current preoperative screening focuses on physical readiness alone, and the conversation around social needs often gets overlooked. Our preoperative assessment platform, Pathpoint ePOA, streamlines the patient journey by automating digital questionnaires and flagging complex cases.
Looking ahead. We’ve published and shared our findings from our work with BHRUT and the PPI committee. But this is just the beginning. We aim to conduct further research and expand the lack of information around this health inequality. Our goal isn’t just to enhance Pathpoint ePOA; it’s to inspire systemic change across healthcare.
Alertive Ltd
Overview: Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust accelerates care delivery by using digital communication to transform test result and triage efficiency.
Why? Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH) faced critical communication challenges. Reliance on outdated tools such as pagers, combined with inefficient manual processes, led to significant delays in patient care, increased stress for staff, and reduced operational efficiency.
What happened? NNUH engaged clinical leads, digital health specialists, and change agents to train staff, provide on-site support, and address concerns during the rollout. Alertive’s role-based communication system streamlined workflows by ensuring messages were sent to the right person or team, reducing misdirected referrals. Alerts were prioritised by urgency, helping staff focus on critical tasks. There was a phased rollout to key departments including pathology, emergency, radiology, and pharmacy. The time to communicate pathology results dropped by 93 percent, from 53 minutes to just 7 minutes, now instantly available with the BlodBot going live. The proportion of ED patients triaged, admitted, transferred, or discharged within the 4-hour target increased by 7.9 percent, equating to 1,500 more patients meeting the target each month. The percentage of ambulances turned around within 15 minutes increased by 160 percent, while those waiting over an hour decreased by 44 percent, alleviating ED congestion. Alertive users reported a 47 percent reduction in stress levels and a 23 percent decrease in burnout. Excessive messaging outside of working hours decreased by 62 percent. Alertive’s messaging provided a robust audit trail, enabling the Trust to review communication records during investigations and continuously improve processes.
Looking ahead. Alertive’s adoption at NNUH continues to grow, and this case study not only highlights NNUH’s success, but also provides a blueprint for other healthcare organisations seeking to optimise communication and operational efficiency.
Kidney Beam
Overview: Kidney Beam, a virtual rehabilitation app, is a scientifically-proven, kidney-specific physiotherapy and lifestyle management platform shown to improve patient quality of life and demonstrate significant cost savings for the NHS.
Why? Despite proven benefits of physical movement, there are only 3 out of 72 kidney units in the NHS that offer dedicated physio-led rehabilitation for people with a CKD diagnosis, due in part to a shortage of skilled professionals. Unlike other long-term conditions, people with CKD are not routinely counselled about physical activity.
What happened? Professor Sharlene Greenwood and tech entrepreneur Katie Bell set out to launch Kidney Beam, a virtual physiotherapy and lifestyle management app tailored specifically to help people living with kidney disease. The app features over 350 kidney-specific classes, a weekly live class schedule, several signature programmes designed for different disease stages, plus a comprehensive renal rehab intervention developed by clinicians at King’s College Hospital. Kidney Beam is now being rolled out nationwide with the assistance of all 8 NHS England renal networks. This comes following a landmark clinical trial published in the Lancet Digital Health. Carried out at 11 centres across the UK, the research showed a significant improvement in patient-reported quality-of-life among those given access to Kidney Beam’s 12-week digital kidney rehabilitation programme. Patients were shown to benefit from improved mental health & physical function, better ability to self-manage their care, improved symptoms of fatigue, anxiety & depression, and reduced social isolation. In addition to the patient benefits, the trial demonstrated significant cost efficiencies for the NHS, with savings of £580 per patient across reduced hospital visits, out-patient attendances, primary and community care, social care contacts and medication spend.
Looking ahead. Plans for 2025 include wider rollout across the NHS, a new mental health programme and further support for comorbidities such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
Feedback Medical
Overview: By implementing Bleepa®, Queen Victoria Hospital enabled the integration of diverse diagnostic tests and effective case management across primary and secondary care. This led to a 63 percent reduction in patient wait times from referral to treatment against national standards and a 90 percent decrease in outpatient appointments.
Why? Breathlessness accounts for 5 percent of presentations to emergency departments, approximately 4 percent of GP consultations and reported by patients in 12 percent of medical admissions. Multiple investigations are likely to be required, and early and accurate diagnosis is critical to ensure the best outcome for the patient.
What happened? QVH partnered with Feedback Medical to initiate a pilot to explore Bleepa®’s capabilities to optimise the breathlessness pathway. A steering group, including key members from QVH and Feedback Medical, as well as GP partners from a local practice, was set up to oversee the project and keep it on track. Training was tailored to the needs of different staff, and the system was tested by users to ensure it worked well before full training began. Regular communication with all levels of staff – from GPs to teams across QVH – meant everyone had a voice and felt part of the process, which encouraged commitment and ownership. Key measurable improvements included a 63 percent reduction in patient wait times from referral to treatment for the breathlessness pathway compared to the 18-week national target (46 days compared to 126 days); a 45 percent reduction in referral to diagnostic test wait times compared to the national target; and a 90 percent reduction in outpatient appointment requirements. 377k hours of consultant time could be released back for a single pathway, and £315k-£787k could be saved per pathway for an ICB. If these benefits were achieved more widely it could save Sussex ICS £314,880 or even £16.9 million nationally with one pathway.
Looking ahead. 10 practices have onboarded Bleepa® and a further 12 are scheduled, with an aim to expand to all GP practices in the region and move beyond the breathlessness pathway. The team has worked across NHS England with others aiming to emulate the programme.
Mersey Care, Calabrio & ITGL
Overview: Mersey Care NHS Trust’s 24/7 mental health Crisis Helpline handles 9,000 calls monthly, using advanced collaboration technologies and AI-driven analytics to improve response times, reduce A&E strain, streamline clinician workloads and enhance care delivery and staff wellbeing.
Why? Mersey Care wanted to develop a dedicated 24/7 urgent mental health Crisis Helpline. Although originally planned for 2021, the launch of the helpline was brought forward due to the pandemic, enabling Mersey Care to respond to the rapidly increasing mental health concerns in the community and provide immediate support.
What happened? Mersey Care and NHS Informatics Merseyside partnered with ITGL, a multi-award-winning digital consultancy, and Calabrio, a leading provider of Workforce Management Software, to develop the crisis helpline for the future. The solution is customised to enable the Trust to prioritise and route calls based on their level of urgency. The solution has delivered outstanding results, exceeding expectations and goals. For example, Mersey Care has identified that only 21 percent of contacts handled by clinicians are ‘clinical’. By rerouting calls to the most appropriate team members, clinicians have more time to deal with critical calls. Utilising text-to-speech features enables the team to be flexible and responsive to patient needs, reducing clinician administration time. Live dashboards the solution provides support the clinical team in having real-time oversight of demand and acuity. This enables the prompting of clinical escalations and mobilisation of resources where required. The system has also supported team-based and individual learning through supervision using analytics and call recording. Overall, the solution has enabled Mersey Care to handle 9,000 contacts monthly, which aligns with their aim to manage increased demand and reduce pressure on A&E services.
Looking ahead. The collaboration will continue to support those in mental health crisis, alleviating the strain on A&E and offering improved response times.
Isla Health
Overview: Isla’s platform has improved patient care in Cornwall through low-cost Community Lesion Imaging Clinics (CLICs), triaging 2WW skin cancer referrals, reducing face-to-face appointments by 50 percent, and creating an AI-ready database of 489 dermoscopic images.
Why? The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT) Dermatology Service in Truro faced capacity challenges, exacerbated by difficulties obtaining high-quality images in primary care. Tele-triage for skin cancer referrals was contentious due to clinical risks and imaging challenges, and efforts to introduce imaging in primary care met resistance.
What happened? The Dermatology team collaborated with Isla to develop a platform for hosting CLIC outputs and patient-submitted data. The CLIC initiative seeks to streamline the 2WW pathway by identifying non-cancerous lesions or those ready for direct surgical listing, while simultaneously building a national-scale database of de-identified, coded dermoscopic images for AI development. Between August and November 2023, 438 patients (489 lesions) were reviewed, with a median age of 72 (IQR 62-80). Of these, 27.9 percent were discharged directly from triage with advice to the referrer, whilst 20.8 percent were listed directly for biopsy or simple excision, and 49.8 percent avoided face-to-face appointments altogether. Clinicians spent an average of 2 minutes 55 seconds per patient on the CLIC pathway, compared to 20 minutes for traditional face-to-face appointments. This increased specialist capacity for CLIC patients by 50 percent, enabling faster care and reducing unnecessary hospital visits. The department now lists patients directly for surgery when appropriate, streamlining the pathway and reducing patient contact. Although marking the specific surgical site adds complexity, it has proven valuable in minimising visits. Three additional community hubs are set to open, and to support hard-to-reach areas, healthcare support workers on the Isles of Scilly are being trained.
Looking ahead. With funding from the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, the service will expand to five hubs across Cornwall, whilst the team is now developing a pathway for inflammatory dermatology conditions, and advancing an AI-ready research database.
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Altera Digital Health UK
Overview: Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s digital transformation, underpinned by Altera Digital Health’s Sunrise™ EPR, has been clinically led and laser focused on patient safety. This has enabled the trust to receive an ‘Outstanding’ CQC rating and achieve HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 in its latest digital maturity assessment.
Why? In 2012, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (LHCH) set a goal to be the leading, integrated cardiothoracic organisation in the country, and they understood that becoming digitally mature was an intrinsic part of achieving this aim.
What happened? There has been a dedicated EPR team at LHCH since it went live with Sunrise. Additionally, the trust has made sure that clinicians were embedded in the EPR team from the beginning. By prioritising working in multidisciplinary teams to foster a collaborative, digital first culture, the trust has been able to achieve its digital ambitions. With the most recent closed-loop medicine management (CLMM) rollout, the functionality was initially switched on for a single ward, and then over the next two weeks the implementation team methodically switched on the functionality to the remaining wards. 24-hour floorwalkers were available to make it a smooth transition. In March 2024, LHCH was successfully assessed against the HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7 standards for its digital maturity. The trust is now 99.9 percent paperless, with all clinical documentation, order communications and prescribing being done digitally through Sunrise. The recent introduction of Sunrise Knowledge Based Medication Administration (KBMA) and its barcode functionality across all inpatient wards and critical care, has enabled the trust to improve patient safety by reducing medication errors by 55 percent, and save clinical time by significantly improving administrative processes.
Looking ahead. Altera and LHCH will continue to develop new functionality and make improvements to patient safety and patient care.
Think Healthcare (Focus Group)
Overview: Analytics can sometimes feel like an area only applicable to a ‘big picture’ view, and not something that brings meaningful local change. With simple but effective data analysis combined with modern digital tools, Think Healthcare helped one practice move the needle and bring big benefits to the masses.
Why? The surgery faced several challenges common to many GP practices, including a lack of detailed data on patient interactions and service demand, along with challenges in managing appointment bookings, prescription requests, and routine enquiries at scale and through differing communication routes.
What happened? The solution, tailored specifically for NHS primary care settings, integrates the advanced Think Healthcare NHS Cloud Telephony module with Virtual Care Navigator (VCN). VCN enables 24/7 access to essential services, allowing patients to book, check, and cancel appointments, order repeat prescriptions, and access other vital services via phone; integrating seamlessly with existing clinical systems. The NHS Cloud Telephony System enhances communication with features like auto-callback, dynamic call routing for vulnerable patient groups, and advanced patient demand analytics to show ‘why’ patients call, not just call volumes. The implementation was a comprehensive process designed to ensure seamless integration and optimal performance involving customised data collection and analysis, performance monitoring and adjustment. Key results included a 92 percent patient access satisfaction rate, a third of calls handled by VCN daily, the automated handling of prescription requests reducing calls by 30 percent, and 80 percent filling the appointment request form immediately, reducing call queues and improving practice responsiveness. This allowed for the reallocation of 3.5 FTE of admin funding into clinical staff.
Looking ahead. By using advanced digital technology to look at the right data to make a difference locally, Think Healthcare hopes to continue to transform the day-to-day experience of all patients.
Menwell Limited (t/a MANUAL, Voy, Menopause Care, Optimale, H3 Health)
Overview: Menwell Limited’s dedicated team of healthcare professionals bring the best care to patients, and sees astounding patient results by focussing on patient experience and evidence-based medicine.
Why? The team set out to address the problem of accessibility to healthcare and fragmented healthcare journeys.
What happened? The team leveraged AI to build two key features: (1) an AI tool that supports patients when submitting health data. The tool assesses suitability of images and text submitted by patients accelerating the time it takes for patients to receive a healthcare decision, (2) an AI chatbot (Joy) that acts as a highly empathetic coach and behavioural change tool. We found patients who engaged with our chatbot lost 60 percent more weight compared to those taking GLP-1 medication alone. Our team have built dynamic operational models that allowed us to bring wait-times for patients down from 3+ weeks at the beginning of 2023, to 24 hours. Impressively our service rating continues to improve and is now excellent at 4.6/5. For weight loss with Voy, patients are 3x more likely to achieve 10 percent weight loss than when on medication alone, and 2x more likely to achieve a 15 percent weight loss. 92 percent of patients lost weight within 3 months, with an average loss of 15.4kg (16 percent) by 6 months. For testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), 95 percent of patients achieved a healthy testosterone level within 6 months, and 90 percent saw improved energy levels.
Looking ahead. The team plans to expand research collaborations, as well as to continue to grow and prioritise exceptional patient outcomes, and tender for weight management services in the NHS to bring our scalable platform capabilities to support the NHS.
