Acea Health announces funding from Catapult Ventures and PUBLIC to launch innovative digital dental and medical consent platform - Flynotes
The use of paper consenting for medical procedures has created a multi-billion pound, global healthcare problem. In the UK alone more than 100 million medical and dentistry procedures require patient consent each year. However, a number of studies and recent case law have shown that paper consent forms frequently contain errors, making them potentially invalid, and ultimately give rise to litigation, poor care and even patient safety issues. A number of UK bodies, such as the Royal College of Surgeons, have indicated that current processes are outdated and need to change. Flynotes has been designed to satisfy these demands in both the UK and abroad, and will drive not only a revolution in the way that clinicians can obtain consent, but also the way that they deliver personalised medical information.
Dr Govin Murugachandran founded Acea Health with the intention of developing software tools to improve patient safety and the delivery of care. The company developed Flynotes - an application that analyses a number of factors, including the patient’s background, to deliver personalised risks and benefits to enable informed consent.
Dr Vijay Barathan, Life Science Partner with Catapult Ventures said “We are very pleased to be working with Govin on this important and timely opportunity to create informed consent in the dental and medical markets.”
In addition to the investment, Chris Spencer, a Venture Partner with Catapult Ventures, will join the board of Acea Health as non-executive Chairman. Until April 2017 Chris was CEO of EMIS Group Plc where he had held senior roles since 1999 and prior to that spent almost 20 years as senior solicitor.
Govin Murugachandran, CEO of Acea Health, said: “I’m extremely pleased to have the GM&C Life Sciences Fund as an investor in Acea Health and to welcome Chris as Chair. Chris’s wide-ranging experience in the leadership and management of healthcare technology businesses will be extremely valuable to Acea Health as we seek to further enhance and commercialize our digital applications for healthcare and grow Flynotes as a leader in this area.”
Chris Spencer, Venture Partner with Catapult Ventures, said “The whole paradigm of patient consent shifted after Montgomery v Lanarkshire (2015), which decided that ‘The [clinician’s] advisory role cannot be regarded as solely an exercise of medical skill without leaving out of account the patient’s entitlement to decide on the risks to her health which she is willing to run … The [clinician] is therefore under a duty to take reasonable care to ensure that the patient is aware of any material risks involved in any recommended treatment, and of any reasonable alternative or variant treatments.’ I am looking forward to working with Acea Health as we help clinicians and patients adapt to, and benefit from, this important change in medical legal practice.”
Alexander de Carvalho, Chief Investment Officer at PUBLIC, said: “Flynotes is a great example of a digital solution that will make life easier for patients, clinicians and the system as a whole. We’re delighted to back Govin - and look forward to seeing the impact Flynotes has on such an important and expensive healthcare problem.”
