Open Medical and Essex developing software solution for future of healthcare sector

Open Medical is launching a 30-month partnership with the University of Essex to use artificial intelligence to develop a market-leading cloud-based software solution to support the next generation digital transformation of healthcare services.

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership is funded by Innovate UK – the UK’s innovation agency which is part of UK Research and Innovation.

The project will greatly improve the way critical medical data is managed and the delivery of healthcare services with information being shared faster, more accurately and more transparently, while also providing new medical insights to users.

London-based Open Medical is a market-leading provider of integrated platforms to synchronise, prioritise and visualise clinical workflows across regions, hospitals and departments to support data driven care delivery.

The project will embed state-of-the-art information indexing and retrieval capabilities in the Open Medical platforms.

The software will allow medical practitioners to do new things, such as letting surgeons search waiting lists more easily to identify suitable patients to fill cancellations and allowing doctors to interrogate performance data and metrics more effectively, which is crucial for the operational efficiency of NHS Trusts.

Mr Piyush Mahapatra, Director of Innovation at Open Medical, Orthopaedic Surgeon and NHS Clinical Entrepreneur said: “We can only deliver high-quality care to a growing, ageing population with a widening range of health needs if we have secure robust software solutions which make the most of the latest technology.

“We will develop a cutting-edge, market leading clinical pathway solution, building on and improving our existing platform.

“With technology currently moving at a rapid pace, the move towards cloud solutions has heralded a dramatic explosion in new capabilities. Healthcare has traditionally been risk-averse and slow to adopt. This project aims to marry the new developments with cloud enterprise applications, to develop a market leading solution.”

Open Medical and the University of Essex are aiming to deliver a solution which will transform the way documents are managed, stored and exchanged within the NHS to promote visibility and transparency.

The Essex Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme is part of a UK-wide initiative that helps businesses innovate by linking them with an academic or research organisation to inject new skills and thinking into their services or products.

The project will be led by Dr Jon Chamberlain from the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering. A talented researcher will be recruited as a Research Associate and will be based within Open Medical.

Dr Chamberlain said: “We are really excited about the opportunities the latest data analytics and artificial intelligence approaches offer for improving the delivery of health services and increasing efficiency.

“This will build on Essex’s strengths in information retrieval, user design and experience, and knowledge translation.

“We’re looking forward to collaborating with Open Medical to develop innovative technology to support clinicians on delivering better services to patients.”

Robert Walker, Head of Business Engagement, noted: “We are seeing a huge amount of interest from healthcare innovators within our leading technology research in areas such as machine learning, information retrieval, text analytics and computer vision.

“In a sector which has been slow to embrace change; it feels as if we are finally at the exciting stage of innovation and disruption where we will see scaled improvements to the benefit of patients. Open Medical are a prime example of a company accelerating the pace of change through their impressive platform. I am excited to see how the project develops”.

If you are looking to develop a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, or any other kind of funded collaboration with Essex contact the Business Engagement team today via business@essex.ac.uk or visit www.essex.ac.uk/business/innovation