COVID Cast

In the latest episode of COVID-Cast, Edd speaks to Lee Omar, Founder & CIO of Safesteps, about the impact of the COVID-crisis in care homes. With COVID taking a huge toll on commissioning of new technologies for non-covid use in care homes, Safesteps pivoted quickly to provide a tool to help monitor symptoms among care home residents.  Lee and Edd discuss the challenges of building tools for the care industry, and the challenge of using tech to solve-problems in a sector resistant to digital transformation.

COVID-Cast returns to explore COVID-19's impact upon our wellbeing, and how different technologies are being used to tackle the loneliness and isolation that may result from social-distancing, remote working and quarantines. With 5% of UK Adults reporting feeling lonely some or all of the time, and 30% of us saying that the pandemic has made us feel lonely in the past seven weeks, it's never been more important to find solutions that bring people together mentally while keeping us apart physically. In this episode, Edd speaks to Melanie Aronson, CEO of community building startup Panion about their pivot from B2C social platform to a B2B offering helping to onboard new employees remotely and build the employee communities on which businesses thrive.  Edd is then joined by Jen Fenner, Managing Director of Def Proc Engineering - to discuss the challenge of developing a digitally-inclusive solution to loneliness through Def Proc's new product "Push to Talk" - and the value of layering the simplest of user experiences over cutting-edge technology.   

  In episode 4 of COVID-Cast, Edd speaks to Tim Ringrose, CEO of Cognitant about the challenges of ensuring that individuals and medical professionals have access to clear and accurate information on their health needs. Tim tells Edd about Healthinote, the app launched by Cognitant shortly after the virus took hold that endeavours to provide this information - and the vital role for new technology in the future of UK Healthcare. 

Edd speaks to Iain O'Neill, Digital Transformation Director at NHSX - the UK health service's innovation unit - about the organisation's response to COVID-19 and how to deliver innovative technology to the vulnerable at pace at a time when the usual processes may not be appropriate for the demands of users.   

In episode two, Edd speaks to Dr Anas Nader, CEO of Patchwork Health about the race to transform the UK's healthcare system overnight in order to prioritise the response to COVID-19.  Anas and Edd discuss the rapid change in focus from day to day healthcare to ensuring that staffing levels were sufficient to treat a predicted explosion in patients suffering COVID symptoms - and how this led to a fundamental shift in how hospital care, staffing and treatment were organised. Anas's talks about Patchwork Health's work with NHS colleagues and other partners to help build a technological solution to this challenge, as well as priorities around staff wellbeing and digital transformation in the future.    

In the first episode of a new podcast series from PUBLIC, Edd Elliot sits down with Morten Moller from the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) and Kiann Hein of PUBLIC Denmark, to discuss the value of using signposting to connect disparate initiatives and actors in a crisis.  Morten and Kiann explore how the shared values and close relationships of the countries in the Nordic-Baltic region have helped shape the region's tech actors response to a systemic challenge like no other - and the role of the NordicBaltic.Tech platform in helping to signpost, coordinate and showcase those responses to foster collaboration.