Sheffield Startup Weekend App Could Save NHS millions

by Startacus Admin

Sheffield’s Startup Weekend has never failed to put on a seriously impressive show and of course this year’s event, which took place last weekend, was no exception.

For those of you who may not know, Startup Weekend, which takes place in cities across the world, is an intensive competition and learning opportunity in which teams carry a business proposition from the idea stage to minimum viable product within the space of just 54 Hours.

Working tirelessly, participants combine creativity, innovation and hard work across the weekend, which culminates in an evening of pitches when an expert panel of judges decide who the winners will be. Simple, hard work, but loads of fun!

Startup Weekend Sheffield

This year’s Sheffield Startup Weekend was won by the team behind a neat little plug-in which has the potential to save the NHS many millions of pounds. AppointmentDr puts forward a preventative solution to one of the National Health Service’s biggest financial drains - missed appointments.

The problem is a really REALLY serious one. We were shocked to discover that there are around 12 Million missed GP appointments in the UK alone every year, costing the health service an incredible £160 million pounds…we shudder to think what this figure rises to when other points of delivery are taken into account!

AppointmentDr will provide patients with a quick and easy way to cancel unnecessary appointments via SMS and crucially, uses technology compatible with all current NHS appointment systems.

Their success at Sheffield Startup Weekend promises to give the fledgling business a real shot in the arm (couldn't resist) as it guarantees them a place on the University of Sheffield’s Enterprise’s Pre Start Programme, one of the most successful university entrepreneurial programmes in the country.

AppointmentDr.’s Sally Kuok said of the event,

“Many people here are already entrepreneurs, but they come because they recognise the value and excitement of working with new people. When we arrived we were all strangers. There were so many different cultures, values and backgrounds on my team, you have to adapt to different ways of working.”

Second and third place were snatched up by an equally inventive and intriguing couple of ideas.

Tailor Made is a body scanning app which records your measurements and lets you know whether or not clothing that you shop for online will actually fit.

Geneticode, whose app based coding game teaches computer programming to the younger generation in an easy, fun and sociable way!

These three promising new startups will go through to the Champions Track of the Global Startup Battle, a video competition which will allow them to showcase their talent on the world stage and compete for some great prizes including trips to New York and Silicon Valley as well as mentoring, conference and launch opportunities!

We shall follow their stories closely and bring you any exciting news from the Global Startup Battle.

Sheffield is a great place for Startups.  Why not take a look at some of the features in our recent Sheffield startup month.

 

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Published on: 26th November 2014