ABHI Membership

Why collaboration is the future of NHS IT

The Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI) approached us recently, asking us to share what we believe to be the key factors in successful adoption of technology in the healthcare sector. It really made our team sit back and think about how far we have come.

Our main product, iaptus, is now used by over 130 organisations providing mental health support to those with conditions such as anxiety and depression. In the only cross-NHS IT system usability study run to date, users voted our system joint-first in our sector and it had the highest response rate of all 100 systems surveyed.

We have undoubtedly managed to get tech adopted successfully in the sector. But how? We believe that’s down to a variety of different factors.

Healthcare is a complicated market, with high barriers to entry, and justified caution in trying new technologies. Our advice to those entering the market is to focus on the things you can control. For us, collaboration is an underlying principle. We believe that the best solutions are those developed with users, and this approach has undoubtedly contributed to the success of our product to date.

iaptus has been developed collaboratively from the outset. The product was designed in partnership with a lead clinician at East London NHS Foundation Trust. This allowed us to get the foundations of the product right early on, ensuring that its design accurately reflected the way that services were set up and operated. This meant that our product easily slotted into services’ ways of working, minimising disruption for our customers and with little further development required. This reduced barriers to adoption and gave potential customers confidence in our product, despite it being new to the market.

True collaboration, however, cannot just be at the initial stages. To reap the benefits on both sides, partnerships need to be ongoing. We have strong relationships with our customers right across the business. From our directors to our developers, there is a strong desire to support our customers because we know them - by name. 85% of our developers have visited a client site in the last six months to see the system being used in situ. This helps us stay connected with what we are trying to achieve - and most importantly, why. It also means that our customers feel connected to us. If they are happy about something - or upset about something - they tell us. That level of openness and transparency - just like in any other type of relationship - is crucial in business. Some of our best developments and innovations were inspired by conversations with our customers. We work in partnership, and this has not only helped us create a system that responds directly to customer needs, but also keeps our system at the forefront, keeps it evolving in the right ways, and ultimately ensures that it remains successful.

So our advice for those entering the healthcare sector is to collaborate. Work closely with your customers and never underestimate the importance of their voice. Not just in getting technology adopted initially, but in ensuring that it stays there.

Rebecca Prestland is a Marketing Manager at Mayden.  

Mayden design, build and support insightful cloud based technology for healthcare services in the UK and abroad.