Digital company co-founded by physio Pamela Scarborough joins latest digital accelerator programme
Kidney Beam – a clinically-proven, online exercise, education and wellbeing platform for people with chronic kidney disease that was co-founded by a physiotherapist – is joining DigitalHealth.London’s flagship Accelerator programme for 2023-2024.
It is one of the 17 small to medium-sized digital enterprises that are considered to offer the most potential in terms of meeting the capital’s NHS and social care challenges, according to an announcement publihsed earlier this month. Among other activities, the companies have developed apps, AI robotics, remote monitoring and diagnostics that will help people with diabetes, cancer and other conditions.
Now in its seventh consecutive year, the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator is funded by the Health Innovation Network (HIN) through its Office for Life Sciences and partner organisations, including CW+ – the official charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. In addition, the government is awarding the programme £185,000 through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Chris Chaney, CW+’s chief executive, said: ‘Our partnership with DigitalHealth.London has helped our trust become one of the biggest adopters of digital innovations that improve patient care and experience.’
Accelerator programme director Sara Nelson said: ‘The application process for this year’s programme was extremely competitive and, as such, the final 17 companies truly are the ones to watch in the digital health space. We look forward to working with them over the next year to support the NHS and social care through digital transformation.’
We're supporting people worldwide to get that 'punch the sky' feeling every day by offering health-condition-specific exercise videos with fun, friendly and super-empathetic support [Kidney Beam]
An ’about us’ section on Kidney Beam’s website states that the company was co-founded by ‘techie Katie’ and physiotherapist Pamela Scarborough after they had an ‘aha moment’ together. They decided to try to help people with specific health needs to ‘feel a bit more badass’, it notes.
‘Pamela realised that a platform like this would be super helpful to people who face challenges getting active because of a medical condition ... like how people with cystic fibrosis struggle to find the time to exercise, can't meet in person to do fun activity or may even struggle to leave the house some days.’
Kidney Beam’s 'mission'
‘We're all about helping people with a health condition feel good, no matter where they are along their health journey.
'We're supporting people worldwide to get that "punch the sky" feeling every day by offering health-condition-specific exercise videos with fun, friendly and super-empathetic support.’
The Accelerator has already supported 143 digital health, working with the companies over a 12-month period. It offers support and advice, expert-led workshops and events, and brokers connections between innovators and NHS organisations with specific challenges.
The digital health companies selected are as follows
• Abtrace: Al based software delivering preventive, personalised care
• Aide Health: digital health service helping patients and clinicians better understand and manage long-term conditions
• Akara: helps hospitals maximise operational efficiency using innovative technologies that increase room utilisation, enhances environmental hygiene, and improves environmental sustainability
• Kidney Beam (Workout Online Ltd): a clinically-proven, online exercise, education and well-being platform developed for people living with chronic kidney disease
• Bingli: by asking the right questions Bingli helps patients get the right care from the right caregiver at the right time in the most productive and cost-efficient way.
• Blinx Healthcare: PACO (Patient and Care Optimiser) is the first fully integrated solution that supports primary care in patient identification, engagement, and scheduling on the market, with the ambition to improve health inequalities and improve practice efficiencies
• CyberLiver Ltd: AlcoChange is intended to reduce alcohol use and maintain abstinence in individuals with established alcohol-related liver disease (ArLD) and CirrhoCare is intended for assisted diagnosis, recommendations and therapeutic intervention for the management of new complications of decompensated cirrhosis
• Florence: an app connecting healthcare organisations directly to nurses and healthcare assistants looking for extra shifts
• Fruit Street Health Limited: delivers a 12-month diabetes prevention programme designed to help individuals with pre-diabetes lose weight and reduce their risk for developing Type 2 diabetes
• Healthy.io (UK) Ltd: Minuteful for Wound enables better, more accurate decision making in wound care management
• Hero Health: a 'digital front door solution' offering communication and scheduling tools to automate workload and help patients
• Hippo Labs Ltd: streamlines and automates GP practice care processes to help them look after their patients better
• Mobilise: building a world where all unpaid carers have the knowledge, skills and emotional support to create a healthy and sustainable caring situation
• Opto Health: a faster, safer, smarter digital triage and streaming platform
• Perci Health Ltd: the first digital cancer survivorship clinic, providing personalised healthcare for people living with and beyond cancer
• PMD Device Solutions Ltd: revolutionising respiratory outcomes by making every breath count with its novel continuous respiratory rate wearable solutions
• TestCard Ltd: a urinary tract infection at-home test kit and digital app that converts a mobile phone into a clinical grade scanner to read and interpret results
For more information about the companies, click
Author: Ian A McMillan
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