Digitisation of the NHS has been at the forefront of the tech news agenda for many years now.
As real-terms budgets have shrunk and the demand for services increased, it is often held up as the holy grail which could save the free access to healthcare we enjoy in the UK.
Jon Pickering, now CEO of Mizaic, has witnessed the gradual shift to technology first-hand.
“I have spent the last 20 years working within the NHS, so I have something in my DNA that wants to see its digital transformation, finally,” he tells TechBlast.
Pickering spent 11 successful years as co-founder and CEO of Block Solutions before exiting in 2017, growing that business to £20m turnover. The digital transformation consultancy was focused predominantly on the healthcare market and worked with many of the major hospitals in the UK.
He then spent two years as CEO at workplace data analytics firm Tiger – taking in the COVID lockdowns and completing a major pivot of the business – before he was named CEO of Mizaic in September 2022.
Chelmsford-headquartered Mizaic, home of electronic document management system MediViewer, starred on our sister publication BusinessCloud’s HealthTech 50 ranking last year.
“The combination of tech and healthcare excited me. When I was first approached about the opportunity, it just felt like a great fit,” says Pickering. “The investors and chair were specifically looking for someone with experience in scaling a tech business, particularly in the healthcare sector, and my track record with Block Solutions ticked that box.
“From the outset, I really liked the leadership team and I had a good feel for the company culture. Their transparency about the current state of the business and their commitment to its improvement spoke volumes to me. I thought that was a great platform to build upon and grow.”
In April 2023 the senior leadership team rebranded the business – formerly known as IMMJ Systems – and revealed a further £1.8 million investment from Foresight.
Already home to more than 1 billion scanned images, and counting, MediViewer is the EDMS of choice for more than 80,000 healthcare professionals and 16 million patients throughout the UK. It is currently helping digitise the medical records of 10% of acute hospitals here.
Asked whether there are plans to launch in overseas markets, Pickering answers: “A key part of my role is to assess and validate whether our proposition will add the same value in other markets, as it does within the NHS.
“As part of this process, I have scheduled a series of trade visits abroad in 2024. These visits will allow us to gather insights, understand local dynamics and gauge potential demand for our offering in international markets.
“Any decision will be well thought-through and considered, so let’s see what the next 6-12 months bring.
“But we will ensure that we don’t lose our focus on the UK market which remains key to us achieving our short and medium-term goals.”