June 15, 2021
Your morning summary of digital health news, information and events to know about if you want to be “in the know”. 👇 News
🫀 Pharmacy2U and PocDoc are sending free cholesterol testing kits to 10,000 Pharmacy2U customers, which allow patients to assess their risk of cardiovascular disease in under 10 minutes at home. If results indicate customers would benefit from intervention, they’ll be invited to join a six-to-eight-week programme including online pharmacist consultation, personalised advice and support to control cholesterol levels. 💷 Eight of the UK’s most promising cardiovascular health startups are competing for up to £250K investment in a six-week business development programme. The Discovery Spark programme is run by Discovery Park in Kent, and the cohort includes Coblum , a tech company developing the world’s first fully-automated resuscitation device and digital HealthTech startup Persis Health Innovation . 👶 BoobyBiome has raised £2.5m to speed up the development and commercial launch of a patented storage device that protects the microbiome, antioxidants and vitamins of expressed milk, and a live microbiome supplement drop to support babies that are formula-fed. Specialist deep tech investor Empirical Ventures led the seed round. ♀️  Zepp Health has acquired the core assets and intellectual property of women’s health platform Wild.AI . The acquisition builds on a previous collaboration from earlier this year, which saw Wild.AI launch a mini app on AmazFit’s Active 2 smartwatch, of which Zepp Health is the parent company. 🧑‍⚕️Digital dermatology platform Miiskin has received a $200,000 (£148,000) grant from the Danish Innovation Fund to advance AI integration and improve dermatology providers’ workflows. The funding will be used to support the use of GenAI within the platform to help streamline non-clinical workflow tasks, organise patient-submitted information and reduce admin tasks. ❓Did you know? Poor communication from healthcare professionals could negatively impact patients’ mental health, according to a survey commissioned by Semble, published on 15 September 2025. The survey , which sought the opinion of 2,000 UK patients, found that 61% of respondents reported that their mental health had been affected for the worse as a result of unclear, inconsistent or delayed communication. Additionally, patients revealed that they felt uncomfortable raising information they’d found online with their clinician – with 38% agreeing, highlighting a significant gap in trust between the clinician-patient relationship. The survey also asked what patients felt would improve patient safety and top of the list was the ability to ask questions at any time (63%). Access to medical information on demand (51%), clear guidance on side effects (51%) and timely reminders about follow-up care (44%) were also highlighted as being important. When tasked with identifying clear priorities for making healthcare safer over the next five years, better staffing levels was the key priority, with 26% calling for more staff in order to reduce workload and minimise errors. Using technology to enable earlier detection of issues was favoured by 18%, followed by improving patient-staff communication through digital tools (16%). 🎧 What we’re listening to
Dr Penny Kechagioglou, chair of the Digital Health Networks Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) Advisory Panel, discusses the issue of innovating for improvement in the latest National Health Executive podcast . Dr Kechagioglou, who is CCIO and consultant clinical oncologist at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, shares what is already being done to drive improvement and what can be done to make it better. She notes that within healthcare, doing the same thing again and again will lead to the same results and calls for things to be different in order to drive better results. She also underscores the importance that anything being done must add value – for both patients and organisations. She shares with listeners what Coventry and Warwickshire have been working on – most notably its electronic patient record transformation programmes. Dr Kechagioglou acknowledges that innovation is hard, with many barriers to implementation that need to be overcome, but believes that strategy and making the transformation mean something, can help overcome these issues. 🚨Upcoming events

Digital Health Coffee Time Briefing ☕

02nd October 2025
Find out how PocDoc is reimagining how the NHS and communities approach prevention by bringing heart and diabetes screening into homes, workplaces, and pharmacies, and how being a Fellow is supporting this journey. Co-Founder and CEO of PocDoc, Steve Roest, became a Fellow in 2025 and has been driving the adoption of the innovation across the NHS. The digital platform empowers people to act early, supports overstretched NHS services, and drives the shift towards proactive, preventative care. What is PocDoc and what problem does it solve? PocDoc is the UK’s leading digital platform for community, workplace, and at-home screening for cardiovascular disease (CVD), built around its flagship Healthy Heart Check. The service allows individuals to complete a full heart health assessment – including cholesterol, BMI, and a 10-year CVD risk score – in under 10 minutes using just a finger-prick blood test. Through its platform, PocDoc has delivered more QRISK3 (a person’s 10-year risk of having a heart attack or stroke) scores nationwide than any other provider, directly supporting the NHS’s goal of shifting towards prevention, community care, and digital delivery. With heart and circulatory diseases causing 170,000 deaths each year, the innovation helps identify risk early, reduce hospital admissions, and save lives. Clinically validated and regulated as a medical device, the test provides hospital-grade accuracy and integrates directly with NHS systems, including the NHS App, allowing results to be shared securely with GPs. It is also the only finger-prick test on the market that delivers an NHS gold-standard lipid profile, making high-quality heart health screening available in homes, workplaces, and pharmacies. Recently, the team launched the world’s first smartphone-based HbA1c test, enabling rapid screening for type 2 diabetes, another major cause of illness and cost to the NHS. This new service combines the HbA1c biomarker with the NHS diabetes risk assessment tool, powered by PocDoc’s digital platform. “We’re making heart and diabetes checks fast, easy, and accessible, therefore helping people take control of their health earlier, and supporting the NHS to focus on prevention.”
Steve Roest, Co-Founder and CEO, PocDoc
What was your inspiration and motivation? The journey began with a deeply personal experience. As a child, Steve witnessed his father suffer a major stroke caused by undiagnosed cardiovascular disease. The impact on his family, and the realisation that many chronic diseases go unnoticed until it’s too late, sparked a lifelong interest in early detection and prevention. Later, meeting two co-founders who were pioneering new microfluidic testing technology turned that motivation into action. Together, they saw how combining science and technology could create a scalable, affordable solution that saves lives. “The NHS spends more on cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases than anything else, yet so much of that burden is preventable. Knowing we can help address that is what drives us every day.”
Steve Roest, Co-Founder and CEO, PocDoc
Why did you become a  Fellow? Becoming an NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) fellow is both recognition and opportunity. For the PocDoc team, it validates years of work to develop, test, and scale their innovations across NHS and community settings. The fellowship provides access to mentors, peers, and system leaders who help refine strategy, build evidence, and accelerate adoption. It’s also a reminder that innovation in healthcare is never a solo journey, it takes community and collaboration to create lasting impact. “Being an NIA Fellow is a privilege. It motivates me to continue pushing boundaries, remain patient-centred in every decision, and think boldly about how we can transform preventative care in the UK and beyond.”
Steve Roest, Co-Founder and CEO, PocDoc
Looking ahead
The future for PocDoc is about scale and integration. The innovaton is already delivering record-breaking uptake across regions like Cumbria, where over 90% of invitees completed a Healthy Heart Check, and aims to replicate that success across Integrated Care Systems nationwide. Developing partnerships with retail pharmacy groups including Boots, Superdrug, ASDA, Well Pharmacy, and Dears Pharmacy will make preventative screening even more accessible on local high streets. Internationally, PocDoc plans to expand into markets facing similar challenges around cardiovascular and diabetes care, helping more people understand their risk and take action earlier. “Our goal is to embed heart and diabetes checks into everyday life, on high streets, in workplaces, and at home, so millions can take control of their health earlier.”
Steve Roest, Co-Founder and CEO, PocDoc
Want to find out more? Visit the innovation page where you can contact the innovator directly, or check out their website . Share

PocDoc: Powering prevention through digital health screening

26th August 2025
A landmark step in diabetes prevention has been made by PocDoc who have launched the world’s first smartphone-based test for type 2 diabetes risk, including the gold-standard blood biomarker, HbA1c. Type 2 diabetes has been on the rise in the UK. Around 5.2 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with the condition and a further 1.3 million are undiagnosed. This has put a significant financial strain on the healthcare system, costing the NHS over £8.8 billion, with studies suggesting that the annual cost of the disease could increase to £16.9 billion in the next 25 years. PocDoc’s “Diabetes Health Check” answers the need for rapid, convenient type 2 diabetes risk screening that reaches those most at risk of developing the disease. It is an easy-to-use service, designed to be used in the home, communities, workplaces and clinical environments. The new service combines the HbA1c biomarker – the gold standard blood test for diabetes that provides patients with a measure of average blood sugar levels for the previous 2 to 3 months – with PocDoc’s proprietary smartphone technology (PocDocOS). The test is simple; patients provide a finger-prick blood sample, which they place on PocDoc’s patented microfluidic assay (MFA). Using the PocDoc app, the patient then scans the MFA and receives their result almost instantaneously, enabling them to learn about their risk of the disease in a matter of minutes, in contrast to a process which can currently take weeks or months. The risk of type 2 diabetes can be reduced by 50% through lifestyle changes. PocDoc’s test enables patients to understand their risk early enough and make changes to their lifestyle accordingly. The technology also supports the NHS priorities around type 2 diabetes prevention and aligns with the Government’s recently announced 10-year plan for the NHS, which focuses on home and community-based, digital prevention. “Expanding into type 2 diabetes prevention marks the next step in PocDoc’s mission to advance preventative care for chronic diseases. This approach doesn’t just improve patient access; it helps ease pressure on frontline services and supports a more sustainable, digitally enabled NHS. We’re excited to see the results of the roll-out with our NHS partners in the Northeast and North Cumbria, before we take the product to market across the rest of the UK later in the year.”
Steve Roest, CEO at PocDoc
The test is being piloted in the Northeast and North Cumbria as part of a testing project commissioned by the Health Innovation Northeast and North Cumbria (HI NENC). “Digital testing services like PocDoc’s will make it easier for thousands of people to identify their risk of this disease, at the touch of a button. We’re delighted to be the first to pilot this revolutionary product in the UK, which has the potential to save thousands of lives.”
Professor Julia Newton, at Health Innovation Northeast and North Cumbria (HI NENC)
The launch of PocDoc’s second test in the last two years is a marker of its leading position in the digital diagnostics market and the growing scale of its high-tech R+D and operational capacity, all based in the UK. With the global market for diabetes diagnostics testing set to reach $59.4 billion by 2030, the company is perfectly positioned to continue its rapid ascent, with ambitions to expand internationally by the end of 2025. Share

PocDoc launches world’s first smartphone test for type 2 diabetes

By News Desk Published On: August 22, 2025Last Updated: August 22, 2025
NHS trusts in Cumbria and North East England have launched what is claimed to be the world’s first smartphone test for type 2 diabetes, cutting diagnosis time to under 10 minutes. The Diabetes Health Check app shortens diagnosis from months to less than 10 minutes, with a nationwide rollout expected later this year. The government has described the technology as a “potential game-changer” for diabetes care. Cambridge-based company PocDoc, which developed the app, said it could save the NHS billions. PodDoc CEO Steve Roest said the app aligns with health secretary Wes Streeting’s 10-year plan for the NHS – focusing on early detection, prevention, and moving testing into community and home settings. He said: “There’s an enormous gap in screening people for preventable diseases. “The current system – not just in the UK, but globally – cannot find, risk assess, and diagnose enough people to make any dent in the fight against things like heart attacks, strokes, and type 2 diabetes.”
The app uses an HbA1c finger-prick blood test, considered the gold standard because it measures average blood glucose levels over the past two to three months. This provides a broader picture than single daily blood sugar tests. Health minister Stephen Kinnock told The i newspaper that the app was important because type 2 diabetes is rising across England. He said: “This is a potential game-changer and exactly the type of technology we want to see in the NHS as part of the 10 Year Health Plan – bringing our health service firmly into the 21st century and care directly into people’s homes. “We will make using the NHS as simple and convenient as online banking or shopping, while helping companies bring new technology into the health service more quickly.”
The app’s launch comes 24 hours after the government announced the biggest shake-up of diabetes care in a decade. New guidance says around 750,000 patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) or early-onset diabetes could receive weight-loss drugs such as liraglutide or semaglutide earlier in treatment. A pilot of the Diabetes Health Check is under way in North East England and North Cumbria, commissioned by Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC).

UK launches smartphone test for type 2 diabetes in world-first

'Potential game-changer' could save the NHS billions and prevent tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes
Around 5.2 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and a further 1.3 million are undiagnosed (Photo: Getty)
(Updated 6:01 am)
linkbookmark
The world’s first health check for type 2 diabetes that combines the “gold standard” finger prick test with your smartphone will cut diagnosis time from months to less than 10 minutes. NHS trusts in Cumbria and the North East of England are the first to give patients access to the Diabetes Health Check app, with a nationwide rollout planned for later this year. The Government said it is a “potential game-changer” in the fight against diabetes , and its creators, Cambridge-based company PocDoc, said it could save the NHS billions. Same trusted journalism. Around 5.2 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and a further 1.3 million are undiagnosed, putting a significant financial strain on the healthcare system. Around £9bn is spent on treating complications arising from diabetes, such as heart disease, kidney problems, and nerve damage. Studies suggest that the annual cost of the disease could increase to £16.9 bn in the next 25 years. “Enabling screening for type 2 diabetes risk including blood biomarkers via a smartphone app is something that has never been done before,” said PocDoc chief executive Steve Roest. The HbA1c finger prick blood test is the gold standard because it measures average blood glucose levels over the past two to three months, providing a more comprehensive view than daily blood sugar tests. Roest said the app aligns directly with the aims of Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s 10-year plan for the NHS – enabling earlier detection and prevention, delivering more personalised care pathways, and moving testing and diagnosis into community and home settings. “There’s an enormous gap in screening people for preventable diseases,” he said. “The current system – not just in the UK, but globally – cannot find, risk assess, and diagnose enough people to make any dent in the fight against things like heart attacks, strokes, and type 2 diabetes.”
Read Next
Health minister Stephen Kinnock told The i Paper that the app rollout was important because type 2 diabetes is on the rise across England. “This is a potential game-changer and exactly the type of technology we want to see in the NHS as part of the 10 Year Health Plan – bringing our health service firmly into the 21st century and care directly into people’s homes. “We will make using the NHS as simple and convenient as online banking or shopping, while helping companies bring new technology into the health service more quickly.”
The seed of the device was planted 30 years ago when Roest was a teenager and witnessed his father having a catastrophic stroke in his early forties, due to undiagnosed cardiovascular disease (CVD). “Using smartphones to deliver diagnostics is exactly what could have saved my dad from having so many [health] problems. He’s cost the NHS a fortune,” Roest said. The app’s launch comes 24 hours after the Government announced the biggest shake-up of diabetes care in a decade . Around 750,000 patients with CVD or early-onset diabetes would benefit from weight-loss drugs such as liraglutide or semaglutide sooner, rather than keeping them for the later stages of treatment, new guidance states. Pilot under way in North East
A pilot of the Diabetes Health Check is under way in the North East of England and North Cumbria as part of a testing project commissioned by the Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC). Roest credits NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey, who was previously in charge of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, for bringing advanced health tech to the North East. “He’s created this innovation hotbed in the region and they have been trialling the diabetes check,” Roest said. “More hospitals are using it and excited about it.”
NHS trusts that have bought the technology will focus on going into communities, including religious centres, and workplaces to deliver the test before a take-home version is rolled out across the NHS later in the year. ‘Enabling screening for type 2 diabetes risk including blood biomarkers via a smartphone app is something that has never been done before,’ said PocDoc chief executive Steve Roest
Roest said: “We want to reach those areas that have traditionally been hard to reach – those on zero-hour contracts or mothers who find it extremely difficult to make multiple appointments. It will also relieve a lot of pressure on GPs too.”
Focus on hard to reach patients
HI NENC medical director Professor Julia Newton has been working with the Cambridge-based company for several years and credits it for developing technology to rapidly improve disease prevention. “Most people over the age of 40 are invited for a NHS health check every five years, but depending on where you live a large chunk don’t attend,” she said. “One of the reasons we’ve found is accessing a health check in a conventional setting. So if those tests are made more easily available, which this test does, then we have the opportunity to reach far more people. “And if someone’s result does come back showing more tests need doing, recommendations about that can be made there and then. If you consider the number of people with diabetes who go onto have heart attacks and strokes, if we can manage their risk before it becomes a problem that will reduce admissions to hospital, reduce mortality, and reduce complications from diabetes, such as kidney disease, heart disease, and stroke disease.”

World first smartphone test for type 2 diabetes launched in UK

West Yorkshire Health & Care Partnership is a collaborative entity focused on improving health and care services across multiple local areas. The partnership works on planning and delivering health care services, addressing challenges, and engaging with the community to understand and meet local health and care needs. It primarily serves the healthcare sector, with a focus on public health, community engagement, and service improvement. It is based in Wakefield, England.

West Yorkshire Health & Care Partnership

Health tech startup PocDoc partnered with the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership to roll out cardiovascular disease health screenings to local communities .

Digital Health’s monthly roundup of contracts and go lives

West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership is a collaborative entity focused on improving health and care services across multiple local areas within the healthcare sector. The partnership's main offerings include planning and delivering integrated healthcare services, engaging with stakeholders to shape priorities, and implementing public health initiatives. The partnership primarily serves the healthcare industry, including local councils, NHS trusts, and community health organizations. It was founded in 2016 and is based in Wakefield, England.

West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership

Roche operates as a company in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, with a focus on science related to health outcomes. The company offers medicines and diagnostic tools aimed at preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases across various medical fields. Roche ensures that treatments are tailored to meet the individual needs of patients. It was founded in 1896 and is based in Basel, Switzerland.

Roche

National Health Service focuses on providing public healthcare services across various medical domains. The company offers services including access to medical information, treatment guidance, and tools for health management, as well as connections to general physician (GPs), pharmacies, hospitals, and dental care. It primarily serves individuals seeking healthcare information and services. It was founded in 1948 and is based in Leeds, United Kingdom.

National Health Service

NIHR Clinical Research Network

Certific specializes in a doctor-patient communication platform within the healthcare technology sector. The company offers a platform that enables physicians to communicate with patients, automate the creation of medical summaries, and manage various tasks. It was founded in 2020 and is based in Tallinn, Estonia.

Certific

Viagogo

PHD Media

Omnicom Group

Digital Health 50: The most promising digital health startups of 2025

Roche targets two emerging battlegrounds — obesity and AI diagnostics — for its next growth phase

The digital health collection includes vendors developing software, platforms, sensor & robotic hardware, health data infrastructure, and tech-enabled services in healthcare. The list excludes pureplay pharma/biopharma, sequencing instruments, gene editing, and assistive tech.

Digital Health

Digital Health 50

Seed VC

Seed VC - II

Seed VC - III

PocDoc is a digital health platform that provides diagnostic testing and access to healthcare pathways. The company serves the healthcare industry with an emphasis on cardiovascular, metabolic, and renal disease management. It was founded in 2019 and is based in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Name	Work History	Title	Status
Steve Roest	Viagogo, PHD Media, and Omnicom Group	Founder, Chief Executive Officer	Current
Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more

Name	Steve Roest	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Work History	Viagogo, PHD Media, and Omnicom Group	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Title	Founder, Chief Executive Officer	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more
Status	Current	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more	Subscribe to see more

How VCs Use CB Insights

Professional Services

Platform Overview

PocDoc

Executives

PocDoc Management Team

5 Team Members