Alexander Finlayson, CEO
Healthcare is complicated. We are simplifying the tricky bits and protecting the most important. Nye is a digital health startup that has kicked-off by making a simple little NHS-compliant browser-based telephone and video phone that enables any clinician, to call any patient, from any device, anywhere. There are so many more things to be made simpler in health and care. This is just the beginning. Read the full story below:
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (okay, not that far away...Oxford) 🏰 a small team came together, leaving the world of clinical practice, academia, pharma, consulting and international development, to build the kindest community on earth.
This team desired to sustainably digitise the most frustrating parts of health, care and research. Everyone was in agreement that digital was the future, just exactly how, where and in what place, so that solutions actually improved people's health, was the big question.
They didn't have the answer yet so they built a vehicle to help them on their voyage of discovery. They called this vehicle Nye (named after Aneurin Bevan, the man behind the UK's National Health Service...Wadda guy).
Hold on a second...what do virtual clinical consultations have to do with kind communities? I hear you saying. Well, all the evidence points to the fact that your health is only partly determined by healthcare. The tests, medications and healthcare interactions you have, your genetics, even where you live, where you work, what you eat and who you love have an impact on whether you are sick or well. These are called your Social Determinants of Health. Now, unfortunately, our health systems were not set up with this in mind. We look to our schools, transport systems, employers, public health and social care to have a positive impact on our social determinants of health. But what about when they don't? What about when they have a negative effect? Our healthcare system picks up the pieces. Many of our healthcare facilities, like GP practices, are in a great position to be anchors in local communities, to think more holistically about people's health - the command centres of kindness and wellbeing you could say. In February 2018, Nye started a long journey towards finding ways to support this system. Here's a (rather non-eco-friendly) analogy 🏭 Stage 1: Build the road 🛣️ We don't really have the digital infrastructure to link patients with their doctors in an easy, intuitive, accessible and seamless way, that's also deeply integrated into pre-existing health system processes, structures and information systems. So we built this road: The Nye Phone, a tool that allows healthcare professionals to easily and safely call and communicate with their patients. Stage 2: Build the cars 🚗 Once the road is there, we can start to build the cars that can take us from A to B. Hey, make it an electric car, we are quite conscientious folk. The cars here include applications, tools and functionalities on the back of the Nye Phone that allow patients to take better care of themselves, and allow clinicians to do their job better. These include establishing an intimate relationship between you and your healthcare data, getting you engaged in the wider community of research and science and helping you help your local community to lead healthier lives. Stage 3: Share rides! 🏘️ ✅Road ✅Cars We're skipping ahead to where we all help each other out, share cars, journeys and routes. Patients should be able to get the best treatment and be able to participate (if they want to!) in the health and welfare of others, as well as benefit as directly as possible from research. This means thinking sustainably and effectively when it comes to clinical trials, social prescribing and community-based care, but doing so in a way that makes use of people-power and grassroots engagement. Right now, we're still in Stage 1, but we hope you'll join us on this darn important journey.