TFH #017: Babylon ends NHS deal, Cera raises a massive £260M, how the independent sector is helping NHS deal with 6M people on waiting list and more.
The ideas, people, innovations and technologies that are shaping the future of healthcare.
Thank you for reading my latest newsletter. Every Thursday I share my round-up of the most interesting stories from the world of Digital Health so you can find the ideas, people, innovations and technologies that are shaping the future of healthcare. We hope you enjoy them! Happy reading!
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Have you seen the news that Babylon has ended its NHS deal?
Babylon has pulled out of work with University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust and Royal Wolverhampton Trust eight years early, warning the work was “not economically viable". Ali Parsa, Babylon’s founder and chief executive, said in May he was “very cautious” about expanding its NHS services as it “loses money on every patient”.
Cera raises Europe’s biggest ever round in elderly care sector
UK-based elderly care platform Cera has raised a £260m round of roughly half equity and half debt to grow the number of patients it supports by 500% and expand overseas. The large round is a ringing endorsement from investors for the opportunities in the silver economy.
More than 6 million people are waiting for elective care in England
The drive to use the independent sector has not been without criticism, but, can the independent sector help? Around three in ten trauma and orthopaedic treatments are now being delivered by the independent sector. Over a third of all ophthalmology treatments are now being delivered by the independent sector. This is a brilliant read from The Health Foundation.
Patchwork Health raises £20m for flexible NHS worker platform
Patchwork aims to relieve the strain on health and care workers in the NHS, which has one of the worst rates of worker stress and burnout due to increased demand and limited staffing. The funding for Patchwork follows several other funding rounds in the UK digital health tech space, including Suvera, a virtual care platform that raised £5m last month, and Cera Care Limited, which raised £263m last week.
Can VR gaming help reduce anxiety?
Apparently terrifying people with anxiety in a VR world could help. Cambridge researchers design VR game to tackle anxiety. It is believed that a new virtual reality game that purposefully terrifies the player may aid in the treatment of anxiety. If the player is successful in controlling their heart rate with breathing techniques, they can become invisible when a dangerous character appears.
Therapist platform Unobravo raises €17m Series A
Unobravo was founded in 2019 and is a matchmaking platform that connects patients with therapists using an algorithm that’s trained on a patient questionnaire. It also provides a software platform for therapists to manage their practices, host video calls and coordinate one-to-one sessions.
This is one of my favourite HealthTech questions.
Is this just a shiny wrapper on the same problem? Here's why:- Over the last couple of decades, I’ve seen healthcare spend a lot of money adopting technology to improve a problem but not actually fix it. Fixing it of course takes more effort and is more about cultural change and organisational readiness.
The uncomfortable truth about Product Market Fit.
It's not enough! Product Market Fit only gets you to the starting line. Because Product Market Fit is not a magic bullet for growth. While it's important to focus on solving our customer problems, focusing solely on finding product-market fit will prevent us from seeing other areas where we can create value for customers.
$20 billion spent on medications in India
Where unicorns will be born in the next 10 years will be those building companies which prevent the consumer from spending on these medications . For now, we are feeding traditional models of care, where businesses and most stake holders are vested in individuals getting sick and needing medications.
What is healthtech in venture capital?
The burgeoning “healthcare at home” movement reflects what consumers are increasingly clamoring for across almost every industry—more convenience and flexibility. While using telemedicine may have once been a matter of personal preference, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic made it practically a necessity. With that in mind, let’s look at the definition of healthtech, emerging spaces within the industry and some of the top healthtech companies.
You might like these articles from the previous edition:
NHS England launches remote monitoring initiative for heart failure
ResMed acquires Mementor and its digital health app for insomnia
7 key considerations for evaluating digital health platforms
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Datalla is a global leadership and strategy consulting firm that is dedicated to helping healthcare leaders to shape the future of healthcare. We work across the entire healthcare industry, combining our experience as consultants, entrepreneurs and practitioners to deliver meaningful change for our clients. Learn more.
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