TouchPoints.health

Creating a real-time outcome and communication platform for patients and healthcare providers

Founded by Dr Alex Almoudaris, TouchPoints.health is a cloud-based, SaaS communication platform with real-time reporting for the healthcare sector. TouchPoints.health solves the explicit and real-world problem of patients being discharged from hospital receiving little to no touchpoints about how they are recovering.

Every touchpoint a patient has with a healthcare service is an opportunity to strengthen the relationship, record outcomes, prevent complications, reduce unnecessary re-admissions and drive greater clinical engagement. TouchPoints.health aims to bring these interactions into one platform with real-time analytics to maximise insights and patient care.

Disrupting impersonal generic patient information

Dr Alex Almoudaris has been a surgeon for over 15 years and had only experienced one side of the problem: when patients were in hospital. “The clinicians would interact with patients daily, and when patients are discharged, patients would maybe be seen in a couple of weeks or months later.”

It wasn’t until 2019 that Dr Alex Almoudaris became a patient and underwent life-changing surgery a realisation dawned. For several months, he was in hospital as a patient and saw a different side of the healthcare system. When he was discharged, there was suddenly no information, despite being a doctor and surgeon, of whether he was recovering normally. Realising there was a gap in the market to improve and inform patients along their entire healthcare journey, the concept behind TouchPoints.health was born.

For the last three years, Dr Alex Almoudaris has been working on the concept, and the journey has been assisted with his previous PhD in Health Outcomes from Imperial College. “With over a decade’s worth of published evidence and papers on improving healthcare outcomes, it has been quite a long journey to get to this point of bringing together my research and my experience as a doctor, surgeon, and patient.”

“All the evidence shows, for maximal effect, you need to personalise your service or product no matter what sector you are in, whether healthcare, marketing or sales. It is not acceptable anymore for patients to receive a generic leaflet or booklet, particularly in this digital age. Touchpoints.health aims to digitalise patient recovery, making it personalised, patient-centric and time-relevant.”

“The post-op recovery period has fallen by the wayside but has a huge impact on patients. Generally, patients don’t know whether their recovery is normal. If patients have questions, they tend to seek alternative sources of information, maybe the Internet, their GPs or local community health centres, none of whom are necessarily fully equipped to answer questions such as ‘Does my wound look like it is healing well?’. The ability to map out patient recovery with digital touchpoints that clinicians can determine themselves seemed like a sensible use of technology but also packaging it into something for both the patient and health service benefit.”

“The technology aims to pick up complications earlier if patients deviate from textbook recovery. Up to 40% of patients that get complications do so when at home, which is an astounding number; however, during this period, the least amount of information about them is collected, so there’s a real dichotomy here. In part, this is also what TouchPoints.health aims to address not only by giving patients the support and touchpoints as they recover but also by flagging any deviations from a textbook recovery to highlight to their clinicians.”

Support and advice for the London Business Hub

The business found London Business Hub through an online search for business support. “I was extremely sceptical when the advert offered free business advice; it was too good to be true. I had extremely low expectations, and then I received an email from my business adviser, Raj Tandon, who set out the expectations of joining the support programme.”

After the initial conversation, “I thought this sounds exactly like what I needed, even if it’s just a bit of a conversation or advice as to what my business should go and do, but it was considerably more than that – Raj took the time to understand the business and my skillset. My focus then shifted to identifying how to start building the business. This took the shape of many different things, from talking to patent attorneys, being introduced to relevant people in the sector and discussing aspects like trademarks – none of which had been on my radar – it was very beneficial to be guided and supported that way.”

“The one-to-one support provided was excellent. Raj made me realise that a product isn’t a business; it is about the team of people, finances, good habits of accounting, trademarks, IP, and all of these things that I hadn’t even thought about.”

The most significant benefit of the advice and support from London Business Hub was teaching me that businesses are infinitely more than just a product, service or widget.

“More time has to be invested into developing the business in many other ways. The product and service you deliver are in some respects secondary, because you might have an amazing idea, but in isolation it’s not a business if you have no team to deliver it.”

Impact of the London Business Hub and Adviser Support

The impact “has been extremely positive by helping me direct my efforts on what we should focus on in the business. Specifically, Raj signposted me to the Global Business Innovation Programme (GBIP), which is an extremely competitive programme that helps ambitious companies collaborate with and expand into new markets. The purpose of the specific GBIP we applied for was to explore transatlantic collaborations and incorporate cutting-edge innovation into our business. It came at a poignant moment because we had just finished our MVP (Minimum Viable Product). We were looking to onboard technologies beyond our company’s capabilities. With Raj’s guidance, he helped us apply for the programme, and we were delighted to have been accepted into it. Only a dozen other companies or so from the UK are accepted, so it’s certainly transformative for the business to have the opportunity to meet, have conversations and collaborate with other tech companies in the space.”

Furthermore, as a result of success in being selected for the GBIP, TouchPoints.health has been accepted onto the Innovate UK Edge programme which offers extended business support with a dedicated growth specialist.

“Without the help of London Business Hub and Raj’s guidance, these opportunities would have never come about.”

Dr Alex Almoudaris continues, “The other significant impact has been working to turn the product into a business. The ability to have someone business-minded who is likely to have seen and heard it all before at the end of a phone or email you can ask for advice has been hugely beneficial.”

On a personal level, for Dr Alex Almoudaris, “to have somebody to reach out to who is entirely independent and doesn’t have any motivation or personal gain, giving you advice has been reassuring. There is a definite element of trust with the sole aim of bettering the company, which I think is rare.

Next steps

The support from the London Business Hub has been instrumental and has given the company the appetite to further its growth ambitions this year. In Q1 of 2023, the business will officially launch with clinical partners. It will formally market the service to start helping patients receive the benefits. Furthermore, the company has some exciting technologies it is looking to on-board through the GBIP later this year in the United States.

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