HealthUnlocked is a social networking service for health. The company uses health-specific artificial intelligence to support patients to better manage their own health, by recommending relevant and tailored health content, information and services to patients The site enables peer support for various health conditions and promotes patient empowerment by actively engaging people with their healthcare.
The social network hosts online communities within a dedicated health web platform. There are currently over 600 different health communities on the HealthUnlocked website, for a wide range of health and wellbeing conditions. After registering to use the site, users can create a user profile and join one or more of these online communities. Many of the online communities are run in partnership with health organizations and charities worldwide, including the British Liver Trust, Endometriosis UK and The Multiple Sclerosis Association Of America: MSAA. Over 40 million people from across the world came to the platform in 2015, the majority of which were from the UK and US.
Research (University of Warwick, 2016) found use of platforms such as HealthUnlocked helps people to come together and cope with illnesses and diseases such as diabetes, cancer and mental health problems. The network was identified as a technology that will change health and care by the Kings Fund, and a tech startup that is on track to become Britain's next billion dollar companies
HealthUnlocked was one of the first companies selected to join NHS England's, NHS innovation accelerator (NIA) programme, which aims to have proven innovations adopted faster and more systematically through the NHS, delivering on the commitment detailed within the Five Year Forward View.
HealthUnlocked works with organisations including think tanks and the pharmaceutical industry to better understand long term health conditions and to recruit people from its online health communities to surveys, advisory boards and panels, as well as clinical trials. The company worked with the The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), surveying its users to better understand the attitudes and activities of people with long-term conditions.
History
HealthUnlocked was founded in 2009 by Jorge Armanet (CEO) and Dr Matt Jameson Evans (Chief Medical Officer), as a response to the lack of continuity and information available to patients. Jameson Evans, a doctor in the NHS, had previously been chairman of Remedy UK.