- Warwickshire business C7 Health’s innovative software platform is set to significantly reduce waiting times for diagnostic scans
- MEIF funding means product could be servicing patients within six months
- Firm set for first recruitment drive following the product’s launch in August this year
C7 Health has accelerated the build process of its healthcare software platform after securing financial support from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund’s (MEIF) Proof of Concept (POC) & Early Stage Fund.
Part of a £300,000 finance package, underwritten by Mercia Fund Managers, and including £150,000 from MEIF POC and £150,000 from Mercia EIS funds; the cash injection has enabled the firm to build and test the platform that will streamline the process of essential diagnostic scans for patients, minimising administration for GPs and reducing waiting times for NHS users.
Set up in April this year in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, C7 Health is the brainchild of Phil Webb, former chief technology officer at medical tech giant, EMIS Group.
With some NHS users waiting up to six weeks for their ultrasound scans, and over 40 million diagnostic scans directed from England’s 7,500 GP surgeries every year; Webb spotted an opportunity to modernise the current process - with GPs, diagnostic providers and, most importantly, patients all set to benefit.
The MEIF funding has meant that the first version of the platform is now complete and C7 Health will begin work with its first ultrasound customer, Diagnostic World, to service GPs across England this month.
Webb said: “As a clinical services-led company, C7 Health’s mantra is to work shoulder-to-shoulder with healthcare providers to deliver solutions that will benefit patients rather than develop products that are great in theory, but fail to make a real difference.
“The idea of creating a software platform that enables GPs to send automated instructions to their diagnostic providers, rather than going through a convoluted administrative process, is something that can revolutionise diagnostics in the NHS. However, I would not have had the means to build this without equity finance.”
Jonathan Browning, chairman of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP, added: “Coventry and Warwickshire has a long-standing pedigree of innovation. Many of our companies are leaders in research and development, and we have a very strong digital sector, and C7 Health is an example of that.
“Its cutting-edge work will bring tangible benefits and this funding through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund will accelerate bringing its app to market for the benefit of all.”