Meet the innovator: Jez Ellerd-Styles, SiSU Health UK

Launched in 2014, SiSU Health is scaling early warning, self-service health kiosks, digital platforms and pathways into pre-existing healthcare services. The British Heart Foundation estimates the annual cardiovascular disease (CVD) related costs to the UK healthcare system are around £10 billion, with annual costs to the UK economy of an estimated £25 billion. Making the platform a useful tool for flagging conditions early such as CVD. Director of Growth, Jez Ellerd-Styles, tells us more.

Tell us about the innovation. The what and the why?

 The SiSU platform combines a medical device with user-friendly digital interfaces to deliver personalised health insights. Each standard and mobile health kiosk performs essential health assessments such as blood pressure, BMI, CVD risk assessments (e.g. QRisk3), diabetes risk, and lifestyle factors like stress, smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity levels.

Utilising cloud-based technology each kiosk can provide a unique experience with immediate real time feedback via the kiosk and integrated app. Health kiosks are placed in accessible locations to capture targeted and opportunistic health checks in places such as workplaces, community centres, libraries, shops, hospitals etc. Users are presented with immediate results, recommendations and the opportunity to self-refer to local services. A range of digital pathways can be obtained on the station by email and through a patient management tool to ensure users are directed to pre-existing local services and wherever possible to reduce the impact on primary care. Individuals with high risk can be triaged directly into GPs for immediate treatment. For those with a lower risk an app and health portal can be accessed, to review results and lifestyle recommendations to manage future risk through a range of content, tools and gamification.

The accessibility of the health kiosks and digital platforms taps into an increasing desire for the public to ‘consume’ their healthcare on demand.

User surveys indicate the net impact is slightly fewer GP appointments are needed, with people acting following their results.

We have seen:

• 70% of users report that completing a health check drove changes in their lifestyle.
• Over 20% of repeat users reduced their BP to a healthy level and 17% quit smoking.
• The platform is demographically agnostic with 50% of checks from males, 35% from ethnic minorities and 52% of people living in deprived areas [IMD1-4].

Which health innovation networks have you been supported by?

SiSU are very fortunate to have worked with several Health Innovation Networks. We have been supported by DigitalHealth.London via their accelerator programme in 2022.  Health Innovation Manchester helped us with a pilot programme and Health Innovation East has supported us with a Pilot. And of course, more recently Health Innovation East Midlands have provided fantastic support via their Digital Health Accelerator programme with a focus on evidence generation and evaluation. The combined support from the HINs has allowed us to refine our proposition in a safe environment and test out market fit.

What’s been the toughest obstacle to date?

Covid to one side… one of the biggest obstacles has been tackling some of the pre-conceived ideas of our product category based on old technology. Previous health kiosks were little more than weight scales, were not internet enabled and did little to provide users with insights, ongoing support or links to the health system. We have had to re-educate the market on the potential opportunity a national network of digitally enabled health kiosks can provide. This is true of all the markets in which we operate but particularly relevant to employers who are now looking for a ‘whole of workforce’ solution which we can deliver through the health kiosk and our app where hybrid working is prevalent.

What are your hopes for the future?

We hope to work at a local level with ICBs, Trusts and Local authorities and also at a national level to build a nationally accessible network of 10,000+ health kiosks with the view of encouraging all adults to complete regular health checks and thus detect risks much earlier. We have seen a convergence of responsibility for employees, and we hope that we can bring more health checks to workplaces to make this even more convenient. We have seen great uptake when we have worked with the NHS as an employer with Coventry & Warwickshire ICB, Black Country ICB and a number of Trusts.

 What’s the best part of your job?

 I love data and numbers so seeing how many health checks we are delivering on a daily basis as we continue to scale is highly gratifying. But in truth the bit that gets me out of bed is seeing who is doing the health checks and the feedback they give us. People who are part of our Core20PLUS populations give us the best customer service scores and often the most impactful statements. This is a quote from a customer who was featured on the BBC news in Luton: “I would never have known I had high blood pressure. This is a very important piece of kit.  Probably saved me from having a heart attack or stroke.”

What are your three pieces of advice for budding innovators?

Build a network of innovators at different stages of development that you can talk to and get advice from. So many micro decisions will have a long-term impact on growth, and it helps to be able to work through ideas with people who are on the same journey.

Start early on evidence generation, and ensure you are capturing data at every possible touchpoint even if you don’t know exactly when you will have the means to utilise it.

Get on a Health Innovation Network accelerator programme – they have been transformational for SiSU and accelerated our knowledge acquisition by several years.