NHS logs GPs in to diabetes prevention app
A HEALTH technology start-up designed to help people live more active lives and prevent or lessen symptoms of type 2 diabetes, has raised £500,000 and been commissioned by the NHS. OurPath is the first digital behavioural change programme – similar to the calorie counting app and diet and exercise website MyFitnessPal – to manage type 2 diabetes to be commissioned by the NHS. The London-based business was founded last year by Cambridge science graduate Mike Gibbs and Oxford engineering graduate Chris Edson, who had the idea to combine technology with live support and educational content.
OurPath customers are sent an activity tracker and wi-fi enabled scales, and are assigned a mentor to help them through the lifestyle changes they’ll need to make over a six-week programme.
This includes making adjustments to their diet, setting achievable goals and receiving interactive content daily to keep them motivated. The programme is connected to an app, enabling users to monitor their progress. The £149 cost will be paid by the NHS whenever the programme is prescribed.
Gibbs, 27, and Edson, 29 met at strategy consultancy Monitor Deloitte, advising the NHS, healthcare charities and global pharmaceutical companies.
Edson said: ‘We wanted to bring all the advancements that have happened in the US and make it available in the UK. There’s a lot being done within the NHS about starting to prescribe or give recommendations for apps. But we also thought that an app by itself doesn’t do anything. There’s also a human element to it as well.’ OurPath launched in June 2016 and has been used by ‘hundreds’ of people so far.
The £500,000 investment comes from several backers, including US venture capital firm 500 Startups, start-up accelerator Bethnal Green Ventures and private angels.
If the NHS pilot, which is being rolled out across GP practices in North-West London this month, is successful, the company’s technology could be adopted by the NHS elsewhere, with doctors prescribing OurPath for patients who have type 2 diabetes or might be at risk of it.