Dr Darren Clark is the Chief Executive Officer of Medilink East Midlands, the industry support organisation for healthcare and bioscience companies based in the region, and a member of the Greater Lincolnshire LEP Health and Care Enterprise Board. Darren has over 20 years’ experience in the healthcare and bioscience sector and has been with Medilink since its incorporation in 2004. In his role as CEO, he has successfully overseen the delivery of a number of significant public-sector contracts to stimulate innovation within small and medium sized enterprises, and he shares his passion for the sector with us here.
The Midlands is a powerhouse of innovation, and the facilities available to life science businesses across our region, including the National Centre for Rural Health (in Lincolnshire), the Institute for Translational Medicine, the Medical Technology Innovation Facility and the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, coupled with future developments such as the National Rehabilitation Centre and The Campus for Future Living, ensure that we remain at the forefront of cutting-edge innovations and technologies in the future.
Our region has a long and successful history of developing world-changing innovation for the life sciences sector, including the development of MRI and the first breath-actuated inhaler. As our population grows and life expectancy increases, this creates a new and changed environment which has both positive and negative implications for our current way of working. There is no doubt that methods and processes will need to change in order to keep up with our growing and ageing population. The Midlands is ready for these changes, and as we have done before, we will use our ingenuity and resourcefulness to find solutions to life science needs.
AI is becoming an increasingly large part of healthcare. Predictive technologies and diagnostics can help to spot potential issues before they become serious problems later on, saving not only costs, but time and most importantly, lives. In the Midlands we have a number of companies and resources who are ahead of the curve and already working on solutions which will support the health of the future population.
Spirit Healthcare, based in Leicestershire, has already developed a system which allows for home treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients. In a novel approach to managing the disease, Spirit’s Clinitouch Vie solution allows the patient to remain in their own home and performs periodic health checks via simple health questions. This information is relayed to the patient’s GP surgery, and the patient is only contacted if necessary, reducing waiting times in GP surgeries and allowing patients to experience a better quality of life as a result.
Dignio, based in Coventry, is another company which is pioneering the use of digital healthcare. Dignio allows healthcare providers to build ‘virtual wards’ and better monitor patients with long-term health conditions. Dignio connects patients and healthcare professionals through a digital platform that disrupts the traditional way of delivering health services and opens up new possibilities for a more sustainable solution. Their platform for connected care is patient-centric, enabling patients to become more engaged in their own health. Through this approach, patients can make medical measurements at home with the knowledge that healthcare professionals follow up the results and are available for support and care along the way. Dignio’s software solution can accommodate multidisciplinary teams, is compliant with all NHS standards and can be deployed within days.
These are just two examples of the large number of life science and healthcare innovations being developed across our region across a varied business base and I am confident that we are very well placed to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. With our strong business base and our tremendous track record, the Midlands will continue to be the engine of innovation and a national driver of prosperity in the future.
Darren Clark
CEO Medilink Midlands