Home care services in Europe that have caught the attention of the world, in our latest edition of Insights Care – Europe’s 10 Most Trusted Home Care Providers 2021.
1. Europe’s
1 Most
Trusted
HOME
CARE
Providers 2021
Dr Graham Wylie
CEO
2021
VOL. 05
ISSUE-01
A Benchmark of
Healthcare Excellence
#TechDriven
The Growing Need for
Personalised Healthcare
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5 Reasons why effective
telehealth solutions are
the need of the hour.
4. O
ver the decades the social and cultural fabric of
Europe has undergone colossal change leading to a
major transformation in the way senior family
members were cared traditionally. The break-up of
extended families and rampant urbanisation created a huge
gap in the care for the elderly and the disabled or those with
chronic diseases.
As older people become more care-dependent but do not
need hospitalisation, the only viable solution seems to be
home care services. The effectiveness of home care services
cannot be denied as the benefits are aplenty. Being at home,
or in familiar surroundings and in their communities give
comfort to the elderly and they remain healthier than they
would have in a care centre. Besides, they also have a
feeling of security and independence staying in their own
homes. Individualised care at home promotes quick healing
than in regulated environments of healthcare or nursing
establishments.
Life expectancy has increased resulting in a rise in the
number of old people, lifestyle diseases, noncommunicable
diseases, difficulty in mobility, people with mental disorders
or the ones who need companionship and assistance in daily
chores.
There has been a whopping rise in the elderly population in
the European Union and this is expected to rise
exponentially. Nearly 20 percent of the European
population is above 65 years of age. From around 90.5
million couple of years ago, it is expected to touch the 130
mark by 2050. With children flying away to different parts
of the country, and the globe, home care services become
more imperative. Add to it the low birth rates and rising
cases of infertility.
Home care provides a huge range of services to assist and
care for those who do not need treatment in the hospitals. It
could be non-medical personal care, nursing care, home
health care. It could include meal preparation, caring for the
sick or even healthy senior citizens who live alone,
medication reminders, running errands, care during illness,
serious injury, progressive diseases like Alzheimer’s,
Dementia, even for companionship or palliative care,
assistance for daily activities like bathing, dressing,
cooking, feeding, transportation, visits to banks or the
doctor, supporting the client or patient by doing the laundry
and housekeeping, or even shopping.
These services are not restricted to senior citizens but
expands to all age groups including children or young
adults who need care. Service providers are in huge demand
for hospice or palliative care for adults and children with
serious illness, from in-home to community-based services.
With technological advancements, it has become easier for
health care service providers to coordinate and monitor the
clients. Home health care providers are doing exceptionally
well in their jobs and their demands are multiplying by the
day.
We bring to the spotlight few such exemplary home care
services in Europe that have caught the attention of the
world, in our latest edition of Insights Care – Europe’s 10
Most Trusted Home Care Providers 2021.
Have a great read!
Home Healthcare
Comes of Age
Sumita Sarkar
6. Care Force
Accessible and Affable
Home Care beyond
Basic Needs
18
Eidyn Care
Where Compassion
Conjoins with Quality
Care
22
Folkestone Home
Care
Comprehensive and
Quality Care for
the Aged
28
Home Care Preferred
A Leading Provider of
Quality and Holistic Care
32
Mission TEC (POPSICUBE Group)
Promoting a Patient-centric
Approach in Home Clinical Trials
40
Medicalib
Leveraging Technology
to Make Home Care
Accessible to All
34
West Park Care
High Quality and
Consistent Care
at Home
44
7. A Benchmark of
Healthcare Excellence
08
C O N T E N T S
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STORY
#TechDriven
The Growing Need for
Personalised Healthcare
Powered by AI and Big Data
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5 Reasons why effective
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38
ARTICLES
9. Description
Featuring
Care Force Ltd
care-force.co.uk
Michelle Coates
Manager
Care Force has been providing domiciliary care to people
across Worcestershire since 1992 and is highly regarded
in the county as one of the best providers of the service.
Eidyn Care
eidyncare.co.uk
Andrew McLennan
CEO
Eidyn Care is a unique service which specialises in
providing excellent palliative and personal care at home.
Folkestone Home Care
folkestonehomecare.co.uk
Emma Hanwell
Director
Home Care Preferred
homecarepreferred.com
Ken Waterhouse
Managing Director
Home Care Preferred delivers at-home care for a wide range
of clients, ensuring that they can remain at home in an
environment that is comfortable and familiar while receiving
the highest standards of care.
Medical Research
Network
themrn.co.uk
Graham Wylie
CEO and
Chairman
MRN is an innovative market-leading Clinical Trial Support
Organization and leader in the field of international community
focused clinical trial delivery.
Nicolas Baudelot
Co-Founder
Medicalib is a health platform dedicated to home care with a
goal to enable any patient requiring home care to quickly find
a healthcare professional available in their neighborhood.
Medicalib
medicalib.fr
Fabrice Beauchêne
CEO and Sylvie
Kahn, COO
PopsiCube is a Clinical Research Organisation based in
Toulouse and Paris France providing in-home and in-
Hospital clinical trial support
RENAFAN
renafan.de
Simon Welte
CEO
West Park Care
westparkcare.co.uk
Tom Page
Managing Director
West Park Care offers bespoke and person centred care
directly into the homes of patients.
Folkestone Home Care is an independent health and social
care provider specialising in private personalised home
care and community services in Folkestone and the
surrounding areas.
ParentCare is driven by a deep passion to deliver care via a
reliable 24*7 platform and safeguard customers' valuable
family time.
Illingworth
Research Group
illingworthresearch.com
John Illingworth
Founder, CEO
& Advisor
Illingworth Research GroupTM, a Syneos Health®
company, is a leading provider of clinical research home
health services, providing highly trained, qualified and
experienced research nurses to the biopharmaceutical and
medical device industries.
PopsiCube
popsicube-fovea.com
Company Name
10. A Benchmark of Healthcare
Excellence
C
O
V
E
R
S
T
O
R
Y
Innovation in healthcare has always been vital
considering the role it plays in advancing humankind’s
chances of survival. The need for innovating
comprehensive treatments and solutions for a diverse array
of pressing concerns within the industry is what is driving
healthcare companies across the world.
When it comes to delivering optimal healthcare solutions,
one company that has carved its stronghold in the industry
is MRN. Founded in 2006, MRN is the international market
leading DCT Support Organization.
Since inception, the company has delivered innovative and
novel solutions, using its specialized expertise supporting
drug developers to accelerate the clinical research process,
by allowing as much as possible to take place in patients’
own homes.
In the following interview with Insights Care, Dr Graham
Wylie, the Chief Executive Officer at MRN, shares
valuable details into how the company has managed to
garner its commendable reputation and success, and his
12. opinions on the current and future state of the industry.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Please brief our audience about MRN, its values, and
the key aspects of its international stronghold in the
Decentralized Clinical Trials market.
Our focus is to actively support patients’ participation in
trials while allowing them to remain in their homes,
wherever they live. We work to reduce the inconvenience
and disruption of visits to investigator sites, by reducing
their number. When visits are required, we work to make
the process as efficient and convenient as possible. We
enhance patient enrolment, recruitment, and retention.
As the largest provider of specialist DCT support, and one
of the founders of this movement, our services set the
benchmark for high-quality and innovative delivery. MRN
is at the core of this sector and everything we do is focused
on the patient.
To put it into perspective, we have successfully delivered
well over 50,000 home-based clinical trial visits. Currently,
we are seeing over 300 patients, in their homes, every
week; and the numbers are growing dramatically as more
developers see the benefits.
This allows patients who have been unable to participate in
clinical trials, for socio-economic or logistical reasons, to
be able to do so; democratizing clinical development and
access to medicines is what patient centricity means – it is
changing clinical research. This is a core part of MRN’s
DNA.
Tell us more about your Home Trial Support and Site
Professional Support solutions, that make your
company stand out from the competition?
Home Trial Support takes the clinical trial to the patient,
conducting research visits in the community (home, office,
school etc.), globally supported by clinical research experts
and healthcare professional teams. This lessens the burden
on the trial sites and the patients. We can undertake
everything from complex IMP administration to simple
blood draws in the comfort and security of the patient’s own
home.
We manage the whole process around the patients ‘home
visit’, IMP to patient, drug administration, sample
collection, PI liaison, telemedicine links, couriers, sample
delivery to laboratories and all points in between. We do
this around the world. Our project teams think globally,
manage centrally, and deliver locally with an emphasis on
efficiency.
Site Professional Support consists of experienced study site
coordinators and trained research professionals deployed to
work with investigators on site, easing their burdens and
helping to keep sites to timescales and budgets. We can
place research professionals at a single site, or specialty
project teams can be created.
The length and depth of relationships with our partners and
our centralized control methods drive quality and
consistency.
What is your opinion on the impact of the current
pandemic on the global healthcare sector, and how has
MRN fared during the pandemic and subsequent
lockdowns?
COVID19 has had a huge impact on the clinical trials
environment. It’s highlighted some of the weaknesses of the
traditional site centric clinical trial designs.
Trials slowed down in the first peak – circa 85% of trial
sites shut their doors. The second peak has been managed
more effectively, and trials are less at risk; however, there
will be delays to trials, as they continue to struggle until the
vaccine impact can be felt. The need to catch up will be
strong in 2021.
At the height of COVID19 last year, over half of all clinical
trials had ground to a halt and the logistics of operating in
hospitals were too challenging. MRN did a huge amount of
rescuing crucial medical research and our operational teams
worked incredibly hard, stepping in and delivering seamless
continuation of trials – transitioning them to a more
decentralized mode.
We work with technology, not
against it, and expect to see
development of multiple
service lines into trials to
maximise the ability to keep
patients in the community.
“
“
14. Dr Graham Wylie, CEO of
MRN, is a pharmaceutical
industry veteran of over 30
years and has been an
agent of change
throughout. He formed
MRN in 2006, now the
leader of the DCT sector
and one of the fastest
growing healthcare
companies in the UK.
“I joined Pfizer as a PM
running trials – this was
fantastic management
training ground in R&D. I
became interested in the
development of PM
software and Continuous
Improvement methods and
moved to NY to globalize
CI and IT programs in core systems such as patient data management, SAE and CTMs. This
is where I became interested in the application of QMS to clinical research,” says Dr Wylie.
“To become more commercially educated, after 10 years in big pharma, I moved to a global
CRO, going back to my roots as Medical Director for Northern Europe, and then latterly as
VP of Account Management, Europe. By then, I had decided I wanted to do something more
radical to address the chronic problems in trial processes, and so joined Healthcare at Home
(HaH) to create a clinical trial division called Medical Research Network. After less than a year,
I lead an MBO of the division to create a separate company, and became CEO of MRN Ltd, a
role I have enjoyed ever since,” he adds.
“My personal growth since then has been about building an ethical, patient focused but
commercial business, learning how to manage high levels of growth and building a growing
group of passionate people who want to see change in the way clinical research is delivered.
It’s been a blast,” he concludes.
ABOUT THE
LEADER
15. The Pandemic has
shown how much
we rely on the site
model and how
poorly focused the
whole system is on
patients’ wants and
needs.
“
“
“
The pandemic has validated the use of
DCT for many indications. MRN, were
able to ‘step-up to the plate’, because
of the dedication of our teams. The
pressures were extreme, and they
delivered beyond all reasonable
expectations. In 2020, we recruited and
trained more staff than we employed 3
years previously. At the same time, we
had to keep delivering under very
difficult circumstances. I will forever
be proud and grateful to our personnel.
They really rose to the occasion.
In your opinion, what could be the
future of the healthcare services
sector post the pandemic? And how
are you strategizing your company’s
operations for that future?
We will see further growth, technology
will have been pushed along the
adoption curve, but it still has a long
way to go. Home Trial Support is way
ahead in adoption, better tested and
more reliable, and will become a
routine part of all trials in the next few
years.
16. DCT is being promoted heavily, with
organizations such as DTRA, actively
promoting its integration as a norm
rather than an exception. It is
gratifying to see Large Pharma
companies joining the likes of MRN as
Founder Members.
MRN are structuring for further growth
and ramping up investment to drive
quality and efficiency. We work with
technology, not against it, and expect
to see development of multiple service
lines into trials to maximise the ability
to keep patients in the community.
Critically, our sector is small. Capacity
constraint will be a major feature of the
next few years as the whole sector
scales up. Quality is going to be
paramount.
As an established leader, what would
be your advice to the budding
entrepreneurs and enthusiasts
aspiring to venture into the
healthcare services sector?
It is complex and conservative of
course – but it is hard to find a more
rewarding environment. There are
many areas of opportunity to improve
the way we deliver health and study
new medicines, and after a period of
such change the conservatism will
soften and the willingness to adopt new
ideas will be at an all-time high. Go for
it – the world needs you!
How do you envision on scaling your
company’s operations in 2021?
MRN is focused on innovation,
operational excellence, and customer
centricity. We are working on all three
areas in our business. We will scale
thoughtfully and methodically. But we
are used to growth – we built an
organization that was able to quadruple
its output over the last year specifically
because we are built on good
management practices and built to last.
Growth will slow compared to 2020 of
course, but we fully expect it to remain
high.
The dynamics of
the relationships in
R&D are warped by
those in the
commercial pharma
world, where the
physicians are a key
part of the
customer group.
“
“
“
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20. C
OVID-19 pandemic has tested the prowess of the
healthcare industry. While the hospital and primary
caregivers have been in limelight for their tireless
work, we shouldn’t forget the extensive efforts of home care
providers who have been the major shoulder to lean on
during the tough times. Care Force Ltd is one such
organization that has been on the front to provide quality
services to its service users and assisting hospitals in
transitioning patients in this tough time.
Care Force has gone far and beyond to ensure quality and
cordial care to its users. In the field where socializing is
easily overlooked, Care Force has seen a positive impact of
outings and leisure activities on the physical and mental
health of service users. And this success and positive
rapport with clients lies within its direct recruitment of
caregivers from within the local community.
Michelle Coates, Registered Care Manager at Care
Force, having worked with different groups of clients
including young people, and female and males, who
suffered domestic abuse, shares compassion all the while
having a deep understanding of the varied needs of
individuals beyond basic care.
“Today, home care is essential as it allows each service to
be accessible and widely understood by a variety of service
users,” says Michelle.
Under her leadership, Care Force is moving forward with a
multiple-pronged approach to cater to varying healthcare
needs of clients through traditional service methods as well
as newer technological developments.
In the following article Michelle shares her journey with
Care Force, the team’s extraordinary efforts during the
pandemic, and how the company—with its unique
caregiving approach—has established itself as one of the
county’s most renowned home care providers.
Care Force in its wake
Care Force set its foot in the care services market in 1992 to
promote people’s independence through active support from
highly qualified staff. As a family-owned organization, Care
Force strongly believes in a value-driven approach. The
company’s diligent work has been reflected in the strong
bond with the service users and the enhanced positive work
culture.
Michelle shared the secret behind the company’s strong
bond with clients as well as employees. “Quality, support,
kindness, and trust have been the company’s fundamental
ethos. This underpins the service that we provide where
continuity of care and a person-centered approach are
paramount,” Michelle expressed.
Care Force has been providing domiciliary care to the local
community within Worcestershire for over 25 years with
compassion and a person-centric approach, which has
helped the company establish its name as one of the
county’s superior home care providers.
How has Care Force managed to maintain and enhance the
compassion and human touch in their home care services?
“By bringing caregivers and the majority of administration
and management staff on-board from within the local
community,” Michelle answered.
Catering to the need of socializing
While marching forward with passion and professional
approach, Care Force has managed to remain a close-knit
community, which has helped the company from the
competition. Care force directly recruits the staff from
CARE FORCE
Accessible and Affable Home Care beyond Basic Needs
Europes 10 Most Trusted Home Care Providers 2021
18 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
21. within the local community, who understands the
needs of the service users and the wider community.
“There is a sense of belonging, trust, and oneness at
Care Force which you do not find when staff is
recruited through agencies,” Michelle explained.
Another pivotal element in the company’s success is
the provision of both social and specialized care
services. The Care Force team has gone above and
beyond whenever needed to ensure a brilliant
rapport is created between a service user and
caregiver.
In addition to this, the company’s specialized care to
support service users suffering from Dementia and
Alzheimer’s has been a beneficial aspect to create
trust among the service users. More than providing
specialized care, Care Force has gone one step
ahead to ensure the support these individuals need
to thrive independently while living in their home
with tailor-made packages to cater to flexible
changes, needs, and preferences.
Coordinating care with compassion
Born and raised in Bromsgrove, Michelle
understands the local community and the needs that
exist within it. This has been her strength when she
started her career as career with Care Force in 1998
while studying at University.
Michelle left Care Force in 2007 and since then has
worked across several fields including public health
and the local council mainly within the Housing
sector. Her experience while aiding specialized and
vulnerable client groups including young people,
women, and men escaping domestic abuse and
homeless adults filled her with compassion all the
while understanding the varied needs of people.
Michelle returned to Care Force in 2014 stepping
into the newly created role of Care Coordinator in
the same year. In January 2020, she became the
registered manager leading the Care Force team
with her experience, expertise, compassion, and
vision to provide the best person-centered care
services. “I am extremely proud of the team at Care
If you are looking to
invest in something
meaningful that
allows you to give
back to the community
at large, then this is
the way forward
“ “
Michelle Coates, Registered Care Manager
19 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
22. Force, and we all are committed to providing the best
service we can for our service users,” Michelle shared.
Going the extra mile
COVID-19 pandemic has been a tumultuous challenge for
the whole world. And during these tough times, the
caregivers have proven to be our true strength at the root
level. Michelle shared how Care Force sailed through this
challenging time, “Our company took on more contracts
than usual and supporting patients released from hospitals
with their transition. This has helped hospitals to increase
capacity and hasten turnaround times for patient
discharges.”
Any organization can only soar to new heights with the
extraordinary efforts of its team. Appreciating the efforts of
the Care Force team Michelle said, “Our staff has been
absolute superheroes by being in the front line of key
service, putting our service users first, and going the extra
mile to ensure they reach all those in need.”
The caregivers at Care Force have taken on extra shifts,
covered for each other, and truly come together as a unit to
ensure the company is always providing service users the
best care.
This new-found strength has inculcated new confidence to
extend the company’s services to reach more service users
in need. As home care services have become essential and
increased in demand Care Force continues raising
awareness of their services to ensure care is widely
available to those who need it.
The Healthcare sector has wide avenues to pave especially
post-pandemic. Care Force aims to undertake this
opportunity to scale in the future by focusing on being the
primary home care provider to its service users for all their
healthcare needs.
Step in only for the meaningful deed
Unlike other businesses, home care is more personal, more
involved, and every aspect of it albeit management,
directorship, marketing to on-the-ground caregiving, feels
like an act of humanitarian service. In this sector, one can
experience the tangible outcome which gives utmost
satisfaction to professional caregivers. Michelle very well
resonates with the feeling and she encourages budding
entrepreneurs ready to enter the home care space.
“It is the most rewarding and fulfilling venture I have ever
set foot in.” Michelle said, “Every area of development and
progress you make immediately has a positive impact on the
quality of life of those you serve. If you are looking to invest
in something meaningful that allows you to give back to the
community at large, then this is the way forward.”
20 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
24. Where Compassion Conjoins with Quality Care
The thought of giving people
quality care, focused on
supporting people with life-
limiting illnesses in the comfort of
their homes, brought Eidyn Care to
life.
Rebecca McLennan, Eidyn Care’s
Registered Manager, came home after
a long shift working with palliative
clients at St. Columba’s hospice in
Edinburgh. Over dinner she talked
about how there appeared to be no
dedicated palliative care at home
service and that most of her clients
with Palliative needs wanted to live at
home.
From this discussion, grew the seed of
starting a quality care at home
company that would be dedicated in
supporting people with life limiting
illnesses in their own home.
Working in a busy oncology ward has
provided Rebecca with many years of
practical experience in delivering care
to people who are at their most
vulnerable, giving her the skills and
insight to realise that helping people to
live with dignity and respect at the end
of their life was something Rebecca
was passionate about pursuing.
In the following interview, Rebecca
shares her opinions how the home
healthcare services has evolved and on
how Eidyn Care has become a
prominent name in the related market.
Below are the highlights of the
interview:
Tell us more about your home care
solutions, that make your company
stand out from the competition?
Eidyn Care provides bespoke care at
home services to clients across
Edinburgh. All the visits are at least a
minimum time of one hour that allows
for the necessary tasks to be completed
but also allows time to support the
client’s mental health by spending time
building a relationship and ensuring
that they are not lonely.
What is your opinion on the impact
of the current pandemic on the
global healthcare sector, and how
has your company fared during the
pandemic and subsequent
lockdowns?
The pandemic has shed a light on
Social Care and how important this
unsung workforce is in supporting the
NHS to ensure that holistic care can be
provided and keep people safe at
home.
It was extremely worrying at the start
of the pandemic as there was very
limited supplies of masks and these
had to be sourced from Amazon, Ebay
and other random suppliers as our main
supplier did not have any masks.
The use of PPE has increased
dramatically as the team take infection
control seriously. As well as the
amount of PPE being used, the cost of
PPE has increased dramatically
however we cannot put a price on a
person’s life.
What is your opinion on the
necessity for healthcare service
providers to align their offerings
with newer technological
developments, especially when it
comes to catering to changing
patient preferences and needs?
The client is always right, and it is this
factor that we need to consider. We
cannot continue in the old-fashioned
way of using paper care plans and
updates must be seen in real time. We
currently use an electronic care
planning system (called PASS) which
allows us to monitor our clients on a
regular basis and ensure tasks or
medicines are not missed. It was
during the first lockdown that this
really came into its own when we
monitored a client that had got Covid-
19.
We were able to ensure that they were
kept comfortable and adapt their care
plan. We involved the “hospital at
home” service and District Nurses that
could read these notes and have
confidence that we were providing
care. After a few weeks of watching
22 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
25. them fail and become weaker, it was
with a great sense of relief that we saw
them get better and even sat up in bed
to eat toast!
In your opinion, what could be the
future of the healthcare services
sector post the pandemic? And how
are you strategizing your company’s
operations for that future?
The biggest challenge has always been
on recruitment and we hope with the
greater awareness will allow us to
recruit so that we can better serve our
community. The biggest opportunity in
life is care as families are scared to put
their loved ones into care homes. This
will be a growth market as the cost for
life in care vs a care home is
comparable, and it allows people to
live longer at home and have limited
risk if a new mutation or another
pandemic hits.
How do you envision on scaling your
company’s operations in 2021?
We are planning for the company to
grow by 10 – 15%. We have spent last
year on consolidating our processes
and building a strong team which will
now allow us to grow.
About the Leader
Rebecca started her career in
the Financial Services sector and
following the birth of her first son
realized that her vocation was
helping people and retrained as a
Nurse in 2009. Rebecca
specialized in Oncology during
the last year of her training at the
Western General Hospital,
Edinburgh, and after qualifying
with her degree in Nursing she
remained there.
Working on a busy oncology
ward has provided Rebecca with
many years of practical
experience in delivering care to
people who are at their most
vulnerable, giving her the skills
and insight to realize that helping
people to live with dignity and
respect at the end of their life
was something Rebecca was
passionate about pursuing.
In 2011, following the birth of her
second son Rebecca changed
direction and moved to work at
St Columba’s Hospice, Edinburgh
enhancing her skills and
experience.
The pandemic
has shed a light
on Social Care
and how
important this
unsung
workforce is in
supporting the
NHS.
Europe's 10 Most Trusted Home Care Providers 2021
Rebecca McLennan
Registered Manager
23 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
26. The Growing Need for
Personalised Healthcare Powered by
AI and
Big Data
The pharmaceutical industry uses information
to help develop enhanced and efficient
treatment techniques and medication while
also depicting specific health concerns that arise
among particular patient groups in order to be able to
manage them effectively.
Even though the pharmaceutical companies have
advanced to a great extent in the development of
individualised treatment, there is still a long way to
go in order for healthcare to reach a level which
would suit our individual needs. Now, in order to
reach that goal, a lot of research and data will need to
be collected on various individuals.
When you combine this difficulty with the
complexity of the human body, you get a very poor
grasp of how the human body reacts to and copes
with various disorders. This is where advanced
technology, such as machine learning, comes in
handy to record, assist, manage and analyse massive
amounts of data.
The media buzz that surrounds Big Data, artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has
24 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
28. never been higher, so much so that it can overshadow the
real applications and actual outcomes various companies
are working on. But larger than hyped up life promises
may have an eclipsing affect over the actual, realistic
benefits it provides to almost any organization, in a wide
variety of industries that are generating large volumes of
data.
AI in healthcare today:
For healthcare decision makers, governments, investors
and innovators, and the European Union itself AI is now in
high demand. An increasing number of governments have
set out aspirations for AI in healthcare, in countries as
diverse as Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel,
China, and the United States, and many are investing
heavily in AI-related research.
What impact will AI have on the healthcare workforce?
The MGI has looked into how automation and artificial
intelligence (AI) are expected to alter the future of work. It
believes that automation, if it hasn’t already, will infiltrate
its way into most employment across all sectors.
However, different sectors will respond differently to the
requirement of AI, and healthcare is one of the industries
with the lowest overall potential for automation—only
35% of time spent is theoretically automatable, with the
percentage varying by profession. The possibility of
automation is not the same as the likelihood of adoption.
What has to change in order for AI to be introduced
and scaled up in healthcare?
The progress that the health industry has made so far, with
the help of Artificial Intelligence has been significant.
However, the road to building a future where AI
contributes consistently and extensively towards achieving
worldwide benefits in healthcare, will definitely be
challenging.
No doubt, in the healthcare industry, AI isn’t necessarily
an absolute problem solver and inculcating it does come
with a few price tags. In a recent research, which also took
into consideration the views of certain stakeholders and
frontline workers, a set of issues pertaining to the same
have been shed light upon:
Collaboration to deliver high-quality AI in healthcare:
In the research done, one of the issues that was highlighted
was the quality of AI performance, particularly
emphasising on bad use case selection, AI design and
simplicity, algorithm quality and performance, and the
robustness and completeness of relevant but not visible
data.
Major challenges to addressing quality issues early on and
adopting solutions at scale were highlighted as a lack of
multidisciplinary development and early involvement of
healthcare workers, as well as limited iteration by joint AI
and healthcare teams.
Only 14% of start-up executives thought healthcare
professionals' input was critical in the early design phase,
according to the survey, while the role of the private sector
in the aggregation and analysing of data, creating an
efficient and secure data base, or even aiding upskill
healthcare staff, was seen as unimportant by healthcare
professionals.
Giving education and skill development a second
thought.
We've already discussed the need of digital skills, which
are currently lacking in most practitioners' toolkits.
Leaders in healthcare who are well-versed in both biology
and data science will be required for AI in healthcare.
Recent efforts have been made to train students in the
science of medicine, biology, and informatics through joint
degrees, albeit this is less common in Europe.
To elaborate more, all practitioners need to prioritise
important and basic skill sets of basic digital literacy,
genomics foundations, AI and machine learning, as well as
critical-thinking abilities and the honing of a continuous-
learning mindset.
Along with improving clinical training, healthcare
organisations must consider their current workforce and
provide ongoing learning opportunities, while practitioners
must have the time and motivation to do so.
- Arran Calvert
26 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
30. Comprehensive and Quality Carefor the Aged
Today, statistics demonstrate
that the majority of the aged
population in the United
States plan to stay at home for as
long as possible, despite changes in
health, mobility, or cognition. Home
care providers have stepped up to the
challenge, providing more
opportunities for care and assistance
at home than ever before; this
includes services ranging from
cooking or light housekeeping to
meal preparation, transportation, and
personal care.
FolkstoneHome Care came into
being, when Emma Hanwell
realised that there was nothing she
could do to improve her situation as a
carer.She felt great dissatisfaction
every time shefelt she could not take
care of her clients in the way that she
felt was right and specifically the
conditions she was working under.
Emma set about discussing the
prospect of having her own company
with her parents, as they both had
much to offer in shaping Folkestone
Home Care.
Emma's father, who is now retired,
had a successful international
company of his own for many years,
KeyMed, one that was ahead of its
time in terms of staff conditions,
respect, and values.
Emma's mother is an incredibly
caring individual who has concrete
opinions as to what “caring” actually
means in real terms. If her mother
were not retired, Emma would have
employed her as a carer and she
would have been amazing.
The company values are based
around being accountable, respecting
others and integrity. Its ethos has
always been what Emma believes to
be true; weshould treat everyone as a
human being first and foremost and
as such deserve equal respect and
must be engaged with in a fair and
just way regardless of gender,
beliefs, lifestyle, or personal choices.
“The person-centred care is not just
forclients, it is for my staff too,”says
Emma.
Below are the highlights of the
interview between Emma and
Insights Care, where she expresses
her opinions on the current landscape
of the home care services niche and
how her organization has gained a
stronghold within the same.
Tell us about your home care
Remain small so that
delivery of service is
always excellent and
only recruit the very
best calibre of person.
Emma Hanwell
Director/Registered manager
“
“
28 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
31. solutions that make your company
stand out from the competition?
The company stands out from the
crowd in many areas. The list is not
exhaustive but an example.
We follow the upside-down
management principles of Mr
Timpson. I am the least important
person, and it is my job to allow
others the freedom to use their minds
and make their job work in a way
that works for them. Without the
carers I have nothing, and I never
forget that.
I pay staff for their whole shift not
just for their care calls and they all
have contracts with hours
guaranteed. We have a car care
scheme that pays for their tyres (one
set per year)and mot test. They also
have private health care cover.
With content staff we have very very
low sickness and very low staff
leavers. This is good for consistency
of care and for the client'swell-being.
We never take on clients unless we
can give them the call times they
requested. I have turned away many
because I know I cannot
accommodate what they would wish
for.
Emma, please brief us about your
journey in the healthcare industry.
I found myself alone with a young
child and no income! I thought as
everyone did years ago that anyone
could get a care job so long as you
had a car. This is what I am fighting
against now, the attitude that care is
an easily obtainable job that requires
no skill. I quickly realised why care
jobs were so easy to come by and it
is because of the high turnover due to
carers being undervalued, over
worked stressed and under paid.
Make no mistake the job of carer
requires a person with exceptional
life experience and multiple skills.
What is your opinion on the
impact of the current pandemic on
the global healthcare sector, and
how has your company fared
during the pandemic and
subsequent lockdowns?
The pandemic has highlighted many
of the major issues that were already
in the limelight. Carers over worked,
tired and undervalued and a lack of
trust between employees and their
employers. Since Covid began we
have not had one member of staff nor
client contract the disease other than
2 who contracted it from a stay in
Europe's 10 Most Trusted Home Care Providers 2021
29 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
32. hospital. We nursed them at home
and again the covid did not spread.
The reason for this is we always
increase our PPE before winter, so
we were already prepared, and the
staff have PPE for their own use on
days off which includes anti bacteria
which clips to your clothes, so it is
always available. I was quick to
isolate staff members into hotels if
there was any risk with staying at
home and they were willing to do it
one carer for 6 weeks in order to
protect themselves and the clients
and other team members.
Now that is loyalty. We also never
recruit of take on new clients over
the winter months, we create a sort of
safety bubble around the whole
company, and it works.
What is your opinion on the
necessity for healthcare service
providers to align their offerings
with newer technological
developments, especially when it
comes to catering to changing
patient preferences and needs?
I have to admit that I am a bit of a
techy dinosaur! My staff liaison
Laurel, who works closely with me
would she is slowly dragging me into
st
the 21 century. I was very much an
old school everything on paper
however, Laurel has shown me how
much more responsive we can be to
client changes without the paperwork
headache if we use further
technology.
We are going to be using Birdie
alongside Care planner. Biride will
allow us to make instant changes to
client medication or care plans and
the carers will receive it instantly in
real time. This saves time and
ensures the care is instantly
appropriate for the client. I believe it
will make us even safer than we
already are.
In your opinion, what could be the
future of the healthcare services
sector post the pandemic? And
how are you strategizing your
company's operations for that
future?
I believe that if lessons are not
learned then the clients are still going
to suffer in the hands of mediocre
underfunded care. I believe with no
covid occurrences we are working in
the best way possible already. I
believe the company is on the correct
course with the right strategy.Remain
small so that delivery of service is
always excellent. Only recruit the
very best calibre of person.
As an established leader, what
would be your advice to the
budding entrepreneurs and
enthusiasts aspiring to venture into
the healthcare services?
Before you do anything decide what
your PRINCIPLES ARE and have a
solid vision in your mind what is you
are wanting to create. Without
knowing what your principles are
you cannot shape your company and
keep it on course to your vision. A
principle is not really a proven
principle until it costs you money
and I can assure you mine have!
How do you envision on scaling
your company's operations in
2021?
The idea of scaling my business fills
me with horror and I believe the team
would be sorely disappointed
because we recently made the
decision to remain the size we are.
My business vision was never about
being big it was always about
delivery of consistently high standard
of care and to be an absolutely great
place to work.
30 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
34. A Leading Provider of Quality and Holistic Care
C
are, aid, and support are what
a patient needs to regain good
health. In a scenario where
the patient is a senior, personalized
care services at the comfort of their
homes becomes essential.
The ‘healthcare services at home’ niche
has evolved significantly in the past
couple of years pertaining to the
demands of a more convenient access
to quality healthcare service. Organiza-
tions catering to this niche market have
striven to leverage the most of their
healthcare professionals and resources
to deliver quality and comprehensive
care to patients.
One prominent name among such
organizations is Home Care Pre-
ferred, a provider of home care
services, emphasizing on delivering the
best possible care with warmth and
affection. The company strives
efficiently to create a friendly
environment for clients and families
and supports them professionally with
special attention with their errands,
meals, and medications.
In the following interview, Ken
Waterhouse, Founder and Managing
Director, shares his opinions about the
current scenario of the home care
services market and how his organiza-
tion has gained a stronghold in the
same.
Below are the highlights of the
interview:
Tell us more about your home care
solutions, that make your company
stand out from the competition?
Home care preferred provides a highly
personalised service to clients. In
addition to providing care in people’s
homes we also sign post people to
associate services. For example, health
care professionals such as
physiotherapists, occupational
therapists, care fee planners.
What is your opinion on the impact
of the current pandemic on the
global healthcare sector, and how
has your company fared during the
pandemic and subsequent
lockdowns?
There have been major challenges
during the past year with care homes
severely affected at the height of the
pandemic. Some homes that were
already struggling have closed
however the more successful care
homes will survive.
Home care preferred has managed to
keep clients and team members, largely
safe, during the pandemic. The early
months when PPE was scarce were
difficult, however the company is now
managing well. From a financial
perspective thing are virtually back to
normal
What is your opinion on the
necessity for healthcare service
providers to align their offerings
with newer technological
developments, especially when it
comes to catering to changing
patient preferences and needs?
It is important that operators utilise the
excellent systems and developments
that are being introduced to the sector.
Home care preferred has virtually
become a paperless business and
streamlined record keeping and
reporting thanks to cloud based
software.
In your opinion, what could be the
future of the healthcare services
sector post the pandemic? And how
are you strategizing your company’s
operations for that future?
The sector will be better prepared for
any future pandemics and able to
32 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
35. reduce spread of disease. Home Care Preferred’s strategy will be
continuing to develop more branches as before the pandemic.
As an established leader, what would be your advice to the
budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into
the healthcare services?
Firstly, ensure it is a sector you are passionate about. Entering into
healthcare needs to be more than profits. Do your research, look at the
successful companies and analyse, what makes them good. Be realistic
with funding requirements. Many ventures fail due to running out
of funds. Make good contacts, work with competitors.
Have good values and ethos and do not let these slip as
the company grows. Your team are your most
important asset. Treat them with the same respect as
you do your clients. If your team respect you and are
on-side this gives the business much better chance
of success. Be prepared to work very hard and
deal with problems on a weekly basis.
About the Leader
Ken Waterhouse started in the care
profession in 1988 when he opened
his first care home. He went on to own
and operate award winning
businesses in the care sector
including home care
preferred which was
the first care agency
in the UK to open
on the high street.
In 2021, we are
also planning on
opening up to 3
more new
branches.
We are
committed to
our values of
delivering best
possible
services to our
clients at all
times.
Ken Waterhouse
Founder & MD
Europe's 10 Most Trusted Home Care Providers 2021
33 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
37. Leveraging Technology to Make Home Care Accessible to All
These words of wisdom perfectly resonate with
Nicolas Baudelot, Co-founder and CEO of
Medicalib, a prominent home care service provider
in Paris.
Nicolas completed his education and later decided to pursue
his career as a trader. During this time, he had a strong
desire to put health at the heart of economic science. Also,
his experience as a volunteer firefighter since the age of
18—and still active—had a deep impact on his views of
healthcare and at-home care, which further led him to found
Medicalib.
Today, Medicalib has become one of the prominent home
care service providers helping find patients right health care
professionals through its online platform. It has helped
more than 30000 patients in Paris every month to quickly
and easily organize health care professionals to provide care
amid the cosy environment of their homes.
In the following interview, Nicolas talks passionately about
his desire to leverage technology to make healthcare easily
and widely accessible; how he, through Medicalib, and how
has been making home care easily accessible to the patients.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Please brief our audience about your company, its
values, and the key aspects of its international
stronghold in the medical device manufacturing market.
Medicalib is one of the best platforms for nursing care
coordination in France, an innovative company based in
Paris. Our algorithm helps users find a state-registered
health care professional practicing near the patient home in
less than 1 hour (20 min in general). Since 2017, we have
helped 500 000 people to find the right healthcare
professional to meet their needs.
Tell us more about your home care solutions that make
your company stand out from the competition?
Medicalib has an operational scope of more than 20,000
active liberal nurses throughout France. Our service is
acclaimed as the best solution for e-health appointments for
this reason and we use an algorithm to find the available
healthcare professional (nurse, physiotherapist, and mid-
wife) closest to the patient’s home.
What is your opinion on the impact of the current
pandemic on the global healthcare sector, and how has
your company fared during the pandemic and
subsequent lockdowns?
The pandemic has been favorable to the health domain from
an economic point of view. For Medicalib, the pandemic
was an opportunity because people stayed at home and they
were apprehensive of visiting hospitals and clinics due to
the risk of infection. For this reason, our activity was
doubled during the lockdown. We are now available 24/7 to
manage all the activities.
What is your opinion on the necessity for healthcare
service providers to align their offerings with newer
technological developments, especially when it comes to
catering to changing patient preferences and needs?
We have consolidated our team of developers to respond in
a more optimized way to our patients. Adapting to demand
Medicalib
EXPERIENCES from our
YOUTH SHAPE what
we do LATER IN LIFE.
– Jan Koum, American Entrepreneur
“
“
Europe's 10 Most Trusted Home Care Providers 2021
35 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
38. and technological evolutions make this aspect the core of our
priorities. We wanted to simplify the search for health
professionals and relying on technology.
In your opinion, what could be the future of the healthcare
services sector post the pandemic? And how are you
strategizing your company’s operations for that future?
In my opinion, e-health and telemedicine are the two areas that are
emerging, without excluding the human aspect, which is dear to
our company. We call ourselves a phygital service. The speed and
simplicity of our digital tools enable us to provide more optimized
physical care for our patients. Patients will need more and more
home care, physical care, and that is where Medicalib aims to play
an increasingly important role in the care process.
As an established leader, what would be your advice to the
budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture
into the healthcare services?
Healthcare is a complex and sensitive sector, with regulations and
ethics aspects that makes it different from traditional business
development.
How do you envision scaling your company’s operations in
2021?
As the demand for healthcare is growing, we are strengthening our
teams to work on two fronts. First is the demand for home care,
which is at the core of our business. Every day we are increasing
our network of private nurses, optimizing the demand for care and
the patient journey. We also tend to prioritize our areas of
development following current imperatives such as COVID-19
screening or vaccinations.
We call ourselves
a PHYGITAL SERVICE.
The SPEED
and SIMPLICITY
of our digital tools
enable us to provide
more OPTIMIZED
PHYSICAL CARE
for our PATIENTS.
“
“
36 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
41. The Health Resource Services
Administration defines Telehealth as
“the use of electronic information and
telecommunications technology to
support long-distance clinical health
care, patient and professional health-
related education and public health
administration.”
Videoconferencing, the internet, store-
and-forward imaging, streaming
media, and terrestrial and wireless
communications are all examples of
the technologies used in Telehealth.
There is usually confusion between the
terms Telehealth and Telemedicine,
though they are very similar to each
other. Mentioned below is the
difference between the two.
What is Telehealth?
Telehealth encompasses a wide range
of electronic and telecommunications
technology and systems that are used
to provide care and services over long
distances.
What is Telemedicine?
Telemedicine is the practise of
medicine that uses technology to
provide treatment to patients who are
located far away. A
telecommunications system allows a
physician in one place to provide
treatment to a patient in another
location.
According to the data World Bank
accumulated from 2012, in India the
doctor to patient ratio is about 1 to
1,700. With the help of technological
advancements and telemedicine,
mobile and Internet technologies are
being viewed as a path towards solving
India's deficit of doctors.
According to venture capital database
CBinsights, worldwide digital health
start-ups received funding of $5.8
billion (roughly Rs. 39,241 crores), in
2015 and in the same year, three
companies after being valued at over a
billion dollars, were given a unicorn
status. The three companies were -
Guahao, a Chinese medical site;
Zocdoc, a US-based company; and
23andMe.
The data mentioned above shows us
the importance of Telehealth and how
India needs it in these challenging
times.
Here are five reasons why telehealth
solutions are the need of the hour:
It provides a superior service that
keeps and attracts patients.
Since it offers convenient after-hours
treatment choices and decreases wait
times, travel time, and costs associated
with receiving care at conventional
care settings, 97 percent of patients
consistently show high satisfaction
with telehealth experiences. With a
high level of satisfaction, giving
patients a better experience of the
entire process while developing a
better relationship with the healthcare
system.
This will in turn create a sense of
goodwill and patient loyalty to stick
with a doctor who they can see more
often through video calls. This may
also lead to bringing in new patients
from beyond the hospital or system's
immediate vicinity.
It lowers the number of people who
need to be admitted
A major cause of concern today is the
increasing rate of admissions as well as
readmissions. The cost of readmission
is quite high as well. By allowing
healthcare professionals to see patients
via video and diagnose them or for
follow-up care and care management,
telehealth contributes towards reducing
the admission rates by reducing the
need to be admitted in entirety.
The scope, width, and delivery of
medical professionals can all be
improved with the right system.
Most major health systems, have a
number of campuses and clinics, as
well as physicians and other allied
health professionals spread around
their locations or areas. Telehealth
allows hospitals to disperse personnel
and resources across the various
systems and have access to more
specialists. This leads to patients being
able to have access to immediate
treatment and diagnostics from the
respective physicians they need
without having to schedule an
appointment, wait or go through and
long-drawn coordination process.
More preventative outreach will help
systems save money
Hospital facilities must find new ways
to engage and treat chronically ill
patients as patients who have
arrangements of being covered under
alternative or value-based payment
methods are increasing by the say.
Therefore, hospitals need to work on
ways to manage these admissions by
segregating the prioritised cases from
the avoidable cases which arise due to
complications including diabetes,
dehydration, and heart disease. By
doing this, hospitals have been able to
cut down on costs.
A point to note would be that telehealth
facilities help hospitals monitor and
keep an update on patients on a regular
basis, ensuring the health of their
patients.
The opportunity to assist in the
improvement of health results.
Patients who take an active role in their
treatment will naturally have much
greater results. Telehealth is a valuable
tool for the patient adherence to
medication and post-discharge orders,
as well as connecting them with
clinicians and caregivers more easily.
Therefore, the opportunity to assist in
the improvement of health results
online is helping a lot of people in
India and around the world.
To conclude, telehealth has definitely
enhanced the day to day working of the
health industry all over the world. With
the current situation being so chaotic,
the need of the hour is more health care
professionals and resources, and
definitely more treatment and access to
medication. Telehealth has played a
vital role in performing all of these
functions amongst other things.
- Arran Calvert
39 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
Update Required
42. The recent COVID-19 pandemic
has highlighted the importance
of physical health more than
ever. While people have started
adopting a healthy diet and exercise
routines, there’s still an apprehension
towards visiting hospitals to ensure
good health. Just as coronavirus
enforced the new normal of social
distancing, home clinical services will
also be a must for clinical trials.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic,
patients weren’t keen on spending time
visiting a hospital for a follow-up.
Mission TEC observed the strong need
for home clinical services and entered
the home care provider space with a
mission of providing patient-centric
services in a cordial environment.
Further, Mission TEC integrated with
POPSICUBE Group in 2014 to reduce
the burden of the clinical trials for
patients and allow investigators to
recruit more as the workload is shared
with the clinical flying nurses.
Fabrice Beauchene, CEO, and Sylvie
Kahn, COO of Mission TEC have
adapted a patient-centric approach
since the start which has helped the
company to establish its name among
the renowned home care market.
In the following interview, the
leadership team tells us more about
how Mission TEC came to be, how the
company has managed operations
during the pandemic, and the
company’s plans to take the home care
services to a new level.
Please brief our audience about your
company, its values, and the key
aspects of its international
stronghold in-home care provider
space.
Mission TEC was created in 2002 to
provide monitors to hospital
investigators’, mainly in the Toulouse
area (South of France) to manage
transplantation studies. Mission TEC
integrated the POPSI CUBE group in
2014 to start providing clinical services
at home. Today, with a network of 150
nurses in France and around 20 local
partners we can cover 53 countries to
manage global studies.
Home clinical services have been fast-
growing activity for 5 years. Carrying
out clinical trial visits in the comfort of
home, workplace or other location is
now possible and highly appreciated
by the patient. We make it easy for our
clients to manage.
Tell us more about your home care
solutions that make your company
stand out from the competition?
GCP-trained clinical research nurses
are not medical doctors and are not
there to replace them. However, many
of the routine visits in a trial protocol
do not require specialist equipment or
medical assessment. There are many
protocols for which patients’
recruitment and retention would be
much easier and with enhanced
reliability using the flexibility of off-
site visits.
Although performed outside of the
hospital environment, the visit
procedures happen the same way as at
the study site. Serious adverse events
are immediately reported to the
investigator and appropriate action is
taken when necessary. A courier
collects samples, and the nurse
disposes of sharp and clinical waste
appropriately. Data can be entered
directly onto EDC, or paper CRFs can
be scanned and sent through
smartphone and original copies
returned by courier. Connected
electronic medical (IoTs) devices can
send in real-time all required
measurements under the supervision of
the clinical research nurse.
What is your opinion on the impact
of the current pandemic on the
global healthcare sector, and how
has your company fared during the
pandemic and subsequent
lockdowns?
April to September 2020 was a frozen
period for us as most of the studies'
inclusion was stopped. Fortunately, we
Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.”
Joseph Pilates, German Pilates trainer
Mission TEC
(POPSICUBE Group)
Prompting a Patient-centric Approach in Home Clinical Trials
Europe's 10 Most Trusted Home Care Providers 2021
40 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
43. Fabrice is a chemist with a master’s
degree in biostatistics and MPhil in
energetic physiology. Fabrice has a
year working in the French base in
Antarctica as a Physiologist studying
emperor penguins and over 20 years
of experience in clinical drug
development for the US Contract
Research Organization (CRO) as well
as for French and global
pharmaceutical companies. Fabrice
also acts as International Informatics
Project Manager for a pharmaceutical
firm in charge of the implementation
of clinical e-tools. Fabrice’s last
employee job was as the Medical
Project Manager at Pharmacia.
Sylvie is a nurse by profession with more than 25
years of experience and expertise in the
pharmaceutical industry. She started her career as a
firefighter and in the intensive care unit. Further, she
worked in pharma laboratories and Contract
Research Organizations (CRO) in clinical research
with effective management of teams and
individuals, both in a matrix and structured
environments. Sylvie has gained extensive
international experience throughout her career as
CRA, Clinical Project Manager, GCP officer,
Purchasing Manager, Methods and Training
Manager, and later as Head of Corporate Operations
at Pharmacia.
In 2004, when PFIZER acquired PHARMACIA,
Fabrice and Sylvie, after working together for 2
years within Pharmacia decided to launch POPSI
CUBE, to carry out a variety of clinical development
projects with large and small international
pharmaceutical or MedTech customers with the
idea to merge clinical and digital research services.
ABOUT THE LEADERS
Fabrice Beauchene
CEO
Sylvie Kahn
COO
41 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
44. started getting more work since mid-
September. With the COVID crisis, it
becomes mandatory to think about
adding Home Care Services in your
protocol to avoid any disturbance
during your clinical trial. MISSION
TEC team is proud to work on some of
the most important COVID projects.
We have a chance to do a job that we
love, which is meaningful and matters
to everyone.
What is your opinion on the
necessity for healthcare service
providers to align their offerings
with newer technological
developments, especially when it
comes to catering to changing
patient preferences and needs?
At Mission TEC we have the chance to
be part of the POPSI CUBE group
which is a full-service CRO (on the
sponsor side) with expertise in Clinical
Research as well as in Digital. POPSI
CUBE is known for developing
innovative tools for a long time with its
internal team of IT developers. The
vision and motivation of POPSICUBE
behind buying Mission TEC in 2014
was to get a field force to be able to
deploy IoT and biosensors to patients
in good conditions by proposing a
network of clinical research nurses
able to install, maintain, and explain
these new technologies to the patient to
guarantee the success of these virtual
studies.
In your opinion, what could be the
future of the healthcare services
sector post the pandemic? And how
are you strategizing your company’s
operations for that future?
for many patients, preventing
enrolment and impacting on retention.
Also, new risks (virus) can disturb
seriously the course of your clinical
studies. Why not try a different
approach and bring the trial to the
patient? MISSION TEC can set up it
now and everywhere!
As an established leader, what would
be your advice to the budding
entrepreneurs and enthusiasts
aspiring to venture into healthcare
services?
Put yourself in the patient's shoes. We
saw clinical protocol with 7
biosensors; just think about charging
them all. Keep in mind that Clinical
Research nurses are fully part of the
investigator’s team. Clinical home
services are performed under the
supervision and responsibility of the
site investigator. Be reasonable and
patient centric.
How do you envision scaling your
company’s operations in 2021?
The main challenge for us today is to
recruit and train nurses to be able to
provide an international grid of
constant and high-quality services. We
saw that nurses are willing to
participate in clinical trials. We are
working to develop a Clinical Research
Nurses Educational Program with
LSLEAD (Life Sciences Leadership
School in Paris) to help nurses provide
specialized and professionalized
services.
MISSION TEC
team is proud
to work on
some of the
most important
COVID projects.
We have a
chance to
do a job that
we love,
which is
meaningful
and matters
to everyone.
“
“
Home clinical services will become a
must-to-have for your clinical trial as
patients don’t want to waste their time
at the hospital for a follow-up visit.
Home visits reduce the burden of the
clinical trials for patients, help for
retention and allow investigators to
recruit more as the workload is shared
with the clinical flying nurses. And it’s
not increasing the budget for the
sponsor.
Participation in clinical trials can be
difficult, emotionally and physically
42 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
47. C
are Homes have been around for decades in the
UK. However, many people do not like the idea of
a care home for themselves or their loved ones.
People more and more want to be taken care of in their own
home surrounded by their family members with the help of
high-quality home care providers.
When Tom Page, Managing Director of West Park Care,
had to find a home care service provider for his loved one,
he realised the lack of quality care in this space and how
challenging it was to organise. However, rather than
fighting the already existing system, Tom decided to make
the change by founding West Park Care, which has become
a renowned home care provider in the UK.
West Park Care focuses on a customer-centric approach by
committing to support clients through every step of the care
cycle and provide bespoke care. The company’s non-rushed
approach with client calls and meetings enables its care
experts to analyse and understand the clients’ needs. This
further has helped the company establish itself as a high-
quality, professional and consistent home care provider in
the community.
Read the following interview to get a glimpse of how West
Park Care was founded and how the organisation has been
disrupting the home care space with its improved and
client-friendly services.
WEST PARK
C A R E
High Quality and Consistent Care at Home
“
“
AS AN ENTREPRENEUR,
YOU NEED TO
PROVIDE A SERVICE
THAT MEETS
CLIENTS' NEEDS AND
MAKES THEIR LIVES
EASIER AND THE REST
WILL FOLLOW.
Europe's 10 Most Trusted Home Care Providers 2021
45 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com
48. Tom, brief us about your journey in the healthcare
industry.
I have a strong background in customer service and sales
working both in the banking sector and corporate sales. It
was whilst I was working as a Head of Sales that I had to
organise care for a loved one and could not understand why
the process was so confusing and, in my opinion, the
quality of care was often so poor. I decided that by focusing
on some key aspects such as having full-time permanent
staff, consistency of service, and bespoke care packages the
entire experience could be much more positive. I started the
business with a business partner who has a successful
business delivering specialist care to children and we have
grown to strengthen our high standards and client
satisfaction.
Tell us more about your home care solutions that make
your company stand out from the competition?
All of our home care packages are designed bespoke to
each client as we do not believe in a one size fits all
approach to home care. We match our highly trained Care
Experts with each client and ensure that our clients only see
a small team of carers to provide consistent services. We
offer a minimum of one-hour care calls to ensure that our
clients and staff never feel rushed and also have enough
time to interact during the call. Using our full-time staff and
bespoke packages we ensure that care delivery is individual
to each client and of the highest quality.
What is your opinion on the impact of the current
pandemic on the global healthcare sector, and how has
your company fared during the pandemic and
subsequent lockdowns?
I think the pandemic created a lot of fear and uncertainty
for both staff and clients in the healthcare sector and we
noticed this especially with our elderly clients. As a
business, we responded quickly to the key issues of PPE
and client and staff exposure by ordering a large amount of
PPE and limiting even further how many staff members
visited clients to try and minimise the risk of infection. It is
with great pleasure to say that over a year on we have not
had any staff or clients contract the virus, but we remain
cautious daily. I do think that the pandemic has made more
people look for care in their own homes instead of going
into a care home, where the risk of infections has been high.
What is your opinion on the necessity for healthcare
service providers to align their offerings with newer
technological developments, especially when it comes to
catering to changing patient preferences and needs?
I think this is essential and something we have implemented
by using a dedicated care software to manage our service
delivery. Our Care Experts log notes from each visit live
and these notes can be viewed by the office team to react
quickly to any changes but also allows family members to
have access to these notes for peace of mind that their loved
one is receiving the care they require. The software also
allows us to ensure that our staff members who are often
lone working are safe in the community. I think a big step
forward would be a system where we could integrate with
other professionals such as social workers, GP’s and district
nurses.
In your opinion, what could be the future of the
healthcare services sector post the pandemic? And how
are you strategizing your company’s operations for that
future?
I think there will be a shift towards more care at home as
people realise that good quality home care is available and
that a care home is not the only option. I think our
experienced care staff have been a huge help to people for
both necessities and also for companionship. I hope that
people appreciate the care sector and the vital jobs that are
being done. As a company, we are now more than ever
focusing on the quality of our service delivery and looking
to launch our service into more areas of the country.
As an established leader, what would be your advice to
the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to
venture into healthcare services?
My main advice would be to focus on quality not price. It is
essential that the service you deliver is of the highest
quality and that it is focused on the client and also the staff
involved in your company. Without our amazing care team,
I would not have a business so you must look after your
team so that they look after your clients. As an entrepreneur,
you need to provide a service that meets clients’ needs and
makes their lives easier and the rest will follow.
How do you envision scaling your company’s operations
in 2021?
I am hopeful that as we come out of the back of the
pandemic, we can launch into two new areas relatively
quickly and build on our success. I think we can offer
employment to a lot of people and deliver some growth to
local economies whilst helping more and more clients in
their own homes.
46 | May 2021 | www.insightscare.com