Our entrepreneurs: Shammy Noor

In our latest #OurEntrepreneurs profile we meet cohort 7 Clinical Entrepreneur Shammy Noor, GP.

Tell us a bit about yourself 

I am a GP with a passion for digital technology. I have type 1 diabetes and I owe a lot of my wellbeing to advances in medical technology. I have spent 6 years in senior NHS medical leadership, as a CCG chairman and regional clinical leader.

My other passion is mental health – in particular reducing the stigma associated with it. I’ve published books for patients and my latest book is to help doctors talk to patients about mental health.

Why did you apply to the programme and what are you looking forward to?

I found the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (NHS CEP) online and then I spoke to a few individuals who had been on the programme which inspired me to apply.

I am hoping to develop skills and knowledge that I don’t yet have and experience that my career has not exposed me to. The NHS CEP looked to me like the perfect tool to develop me and fill in the gaps.

Tell us about your innovation  

I’m both NHS patient – living with a long-term condition – and an NHS GP – looking after thousands of patients with long term conditions. Patients and GPs all want the same thing – they want their conditions optimised and managed well so they can live happier and healthier lives for as long as possible. I consistently find it hard work looking after my own condition with the difficulties of NHS logistics.

The challenge is that many GPs are too busy to give enough time to optimise each individual patient. My innovation is an app that sits on the patient’s phone and intelligently reads their medical records ensuring they are educated, informed, and empowered. The app ensures they get the latest advice that is relevant to them, that they never miss tests and that all the care protocols relevant to their condition are met. This is criteria based and pre-programmed by the patients GP, which becomes a ‘digital GP assistant’.

Much of the human clinical care provided by doctors to their patients can never be replaced by technology. However, where pathways are wholly driven by protocolised, data-centric algorithms, an app can take the job of a human, leaving the humans more time to do the human things.

For the patient – the logistical management of their long-term condition will be more like what they have come to expect in all other aspects of their lives – digital, timely and convenient. They will be much better educated about their own condition as they will have handpicked educational videos sent to them that are wholly relevant to them. They will feel in control and empowered and most importantly, the illness will cause much less disruption to their life – leaving them happier and healthier.

For the GP – they need a helping hand. Demand is soaring and despite best intentions, they can’t always keep up with the logistics of managing thousands of chronic illness cases. This will help with workload, help improve QOF scores (hence income) and help them spend more time being a doctor.

For ICB systems, we can see the benefit that optimised patients use fewer resources on the urgent care system, have fewer complications and cost less to look after. Well managed and optimised patients will have a system wide impact.

What motivates you? 

I love the dopamine rush of figuring out a new solution to an age-old problem.

As a patient with type 1 diabetes, the biggest life changing event have not been in the development of new drugs, but in the advancement of technology. E.g., Insulin pumps, CGM, tubeless pumps and close loop systems.

I feel I can contribute to real change in lives through my ability to see technology solutions to problems.

What are your ambitions for the next year?

In terms of Pocket GP – I want to have a working protype to display to the world. This will be a big undertaking as it will need IT integration to GP systems, DTAC considerations and possibly Class 2 medical device considerations.

All of this will need to run parallel to a thorough and regularly updating market analysis and potential funding round.

I’m hoping the NHS CEP will equip me with the skills to manage marketing, sales, finance, product design and development. All whilst still seeing my patients as a front-line GP.

Why do you think innovation is important in healthcare?

In the twenty years since I qualified from medical school as a doctor, the world looks almost unrecognisably different. I feel privileged to have lived through the information revolution – a social change which will be as profound as the industrial revolution hundreds of years ago.

Healthcare must keep up with and embrace this. People live longer, meaning the proportion of people living with illness increases. People expectations change and naturally the bar rises with time.

Great solutions to any social problem are naturally time limited as society and problems change and develop with time. Every new step society takes will therefore need new solutions – and new solutions are the essence of innovation.

How can we find out more?

Please visit the www.pocketGPdemo.co.uk for more information.

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