UK digital health platform, Your.MD and the creators of Healthily have approached the Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB) to help ensure that the growth of the business was not compromising the safety of their users.

PRSB helps define the standards needed for high quality care records including in digital care.

WHY IT MATTERS 

Former chief executive at the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and a leading advisor to the PRSB, Professor Bernard Crump, agreed to review the digital health platform.

Recognising that the benefits of the project lay beyond Healthily, he extended his recommendations to other digital platforms. The findings have just been published.

Your.MD commissioned the review as part of their commitment to assuring quality and safety in the fast-moving and ever-changing digital health technology landscape.

Professor Crump explained: “We were looking at Healthily’s quality management system (QMS) – a series of policies, procedures and mechanisms, which included security of data, handling of confidentiality, how the system responds to new guidance that might emerge and the process for handling the updating process.”

THE LARGER TREND

Earlier this month, Your.MD scored $30 million in Series A funding to expand its market fotprint in the UK, India and U.S. markets.

The digital symptom checker, previously raised $10 million for a medical chatbot, service directory, where users can explain their symptoms to the app via voice or text.

ON THE RECORD

CEO and co-founder of London-based Your.MD, Matteo Berlucchi, said: “For too long, multiple agencies — all with different standards and perspectives — have taken a back seat when it comes to interrogating the safety, quality and culture of emerging digital healthcare.

“At Your.MD, we have always put quality and safety first, so we decided to put our money where our mouth is and ask the experts to take a look.”

Professor Crump said: “PRSB members understand the rapid increase in the potential use of digital apps in health and social care. They also know that end users can find this arena confusing in terms of what they can rely on and how much faith they can place in what’s offered.

“Working with Your.MD and Healthily gave us an opportunity to think about what framework could be useful in addressing these questions and then try it out in a real-world situation.”