AWS confirms healthcare accelerator startup programme participants

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced details of the 23 startups selected to participate in its latest accelerator programme, which is geared towards helping the healthcare industry improve how it retains, deploys and trains staff.

The 2023 Healthcare Accelerator: Global Cohort for Workforce programme reportedly garnered hundreds of applications from technology startups around the world – with 10 of the 23 successful applicants originating in the UK.

The programme will offer participants access to technical advice, business guidance and mentorship, and was set up to help address a series of recurring staffing-related pain points affecting healthcare organisations.

“The healthcare workforce is facing an unprecedented combination of challenges,” said Andrew Jones, head of clinical innovation at AWS UK. “Patient expectations and demand for health services continue to increase, while many healthcare systems face staff shortages and tightening budgets.

“The healthcare workforce is the indispensable backbone of all healthcare systems,” he said. “To ensure the continued well-being of global health services, staff need to be supported, protected and trained to help tackle the day-to-day healthcare challenges in an ever-evolving healthcare landscape.

“With the launch of AWS Healthcare Accelerator for Workforce Development, we are thrilled to be working with organisations that have started to solve these important issues and focus on the training, retention and career development of healthcare teams,” said Jones.

Some of the startups selected to take part in the programme will focus on the development of cloud-based technologies that will make it easier for healthcare organisations to deploy a mobile workforce so healthcare services can be provided in the home and community.

The programme also has a training focus, which has seen another cohort of the 23 startups taking part in it focus their efforts on providing better-tailored and more engaging education programmes to healthcare staff to ensure they have the skills needed to provide better quality care.

Additionally, another section of the cohort will focus on workload and staffing management tools to help prevent burnout taking hold in the healthcare staff community.

The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust is among 12 organisations working with AWS to provide the startups participating in the programme with insight and guidance on the issues their staff need additional technology-based support with.

The Trust’s chief clinical information officer and deputy director of research and innovation, Jim Ritchie, said: “Developing and supporting our workforce is critical. We’re excited to partner with AWS and their ecosystem of startups to help develop solutions which will make a difference to our staff and our patients.”

Miguel Lopes is the chief product officer at London-based startup Visionable, which is one of the 10 UK startups taking part in the programme. It specialises in the provision of a platform that aims to provide access to real-time video offerings during consultations, hospital treatments and when patients are receiving in-home care.

“In emergency healthcare, every second counts; Visionable is disrupting the paradigm of how patients, responders and clinicians connect at scale when it matters the most,” he said. “Being a part of this accelerator programme helps us tackle the two main issues healthcare faces today: access to healthcare and addressing the workforce crisis.”