Healthcare start-up Cera is set to create 15 digital healthcare hubs across the UK to deliver telehealth and medication services – matching the capacity of 1,000 care homes every day.
Cera’s technology supports older and vulnerable people in their own homes, reducing the risk of hospitalisation and freeing up valuable bed space to help protect the NHS’ resources.
The expansion will help Cera, who in March 2020 secured £54m in funding, to provide more than 50,000 in-person healthcare visits every day. This includes visits to patients suffering from long Covid, elderly and vulnerable patients who’ve recently been discharged from hospitals and those who require daily care or nursing services.
The digital healthcare hubs are dedicated community teams of healthcare professionals carrying out at-home visits to those in need, thanks to the power of pioneering digital technology. They will be delivering services such as care nursing, telehealth, home medications and prescriptions, all in people’s own homes rather than hospital settings.
According to the company they can greatly increase the accessibility and catchment areas for the surrounding region.
Without the need for a centralised physical location, Cera is able to service the same volume of patients as several hospitals combined per region.
It’s new venture will help to further protect the NHS this winter, after ramping up activity during the Covid pandemic.
Ben Maruthappu, co-founder and CEO of Cera, said: “The pandemic has greatly exacerbated, and accelerated, many of the historic challenges that the NHS and social care sector have battled in the UK.
“It has also, in turn, reaffirmed the need for reform, and to embrace technology and innovation to ensure our older community have access to timely, quality healthcare services. Our launch of 15 digital healthcare hubs will alleviate pressures on the NHS and support older people when they need it most, so that they can receive high quality, proactive and digital-first healthcare in the comfort of their own home.”
The digital healthcare hubs will be launching over the next six months in: London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, Bournemouth, Brighton, Burnley, Colchester, Southampton, Peterborough and Southend-on-Sea.