SME of the Week: PocDoc

Steve Roest is CEO and Founder of Accelerator company Vital Signs Solutions, creators of the PocDoc platform. In this blog, Steve talks about the healthcare issues which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and how PocDoc is helping combat these.

This unprecedented year has been witness to some huge innovations and changes to healthcare, and COVID-19 has accelerated the requirement for pioneering HealthTech of all kinds. 

Due to our ability to offer digitally integrated, cost effective point-of-care testing for major diseases, the issues we solve for healthcare providers have been exacerbated and made more urgent by the pandemic. 

The NHS Long Term Plan targets already included achieving a reduction in footfall to GPs and hospitals and increased equality of healthcare (BAME communities and communities with high levels of deprivation) – all of which have been put under renewed focus as a result of COVID-19.

By increasing ability to offer remote / at home testing for chronic conditions, the aim is to achieve a reduction in “do not attends” and missed appointment costs, and a reduction in staff and administration costs. Wherever the tests are done as self-tests, this removes the costs of staff completely.

The PocDoc digital platform and associated tests allow individuals to test themselves for major diseases using their smartphone, with results available immediately in the PocDoc app, see a full health assessment and have access to follow on care where required.

As a result of two Innovate UK grants, we were able to adapt our PocDoc platform to facilitate rapid COVID-19 testing across the UK, demonstrating the scalability and value in digitally enabled point-of-care testing. Our expansion into COVID-19 testing has seen us screen thousands of people across the UK, either in workplaces or through our own network of dedicated clinics.

We even screened the cast and crew of the Aladdin pantomime at the Newbury Corn Exchange – the show must go on!

Our initial focus on the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator programme is to generate evidence to demonstrate the value of PocDoc in transforming the process of monitoring chronic conditions in primary/community care as well as using our technology to address health inequalities.

If you are interested in working with us on an evidence-generating pilot, please get in touch!

Finally, we’re just about to launch a weekly radio show on UK Health Radio called the HealthTech Hour (@healthtechhour on Instagram), in which I will interview key experts in the HeathTech industry – we hope to get as many of the Digital London Accelerator cohort on as possible so they can share the amazing work they’re doing! If you would like to come on the show, please contact us directly!

For more information, please go to www.mypocdoc.co.uk or www.vitalsignssolutions.com or contact us directly on info@vitalsignssolutions.com