Healthcare group’s tablets can provide a remedy for the NHS

There are three ways in which the ipad-type tablets can be used in a healthcare environment – by hospital clinicians working at a patient’s bedside, by senior managers as an alternative to using a laptop, and by desk-bound staff who interact with members of the public and feel a computer is a barrier.

There are 12 trusts across the UK currently using the slates, and director Simon Hudson said interest is mounting since the tablets went on the market seven weeks ago.

“There is an awful lot of interest around iPads but there is limited ability to deliver them into the NHS because of the software they use,” he said. “Instead, we are selling Windows tablets, which use all the existing applications you find on a normal PC.”

Cloud 2 was set up in 2008 by Simon Hudson and Taran Sohal, who previously worked in the healthcare division at IT services firm Ioko, based in York.

Last week, Cloud 2 was highlighted as the company with the best growth potential, at Venturefest Yorkshire, which aims to help science, technology and knowledge-based entrepreneurs find funding and grow.

The firm, which moved into Bradford’s Wool Exchange last year after winning a series of NHS contracts, specialises in providing Microsoft SharePoint technology to build intranets, document management systems, electronic forms and business intelligence, such as working out the average time patients spend in hospital.

It has 70 clients, 65 of which are in the NHS, including Bradford District Care Trust, Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority and Humber Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust, as well as Great Ormond Street Hospital and the University College London.

It has completed dozens of projects over the last 18 months.

Mr Hudson said: “One of the things that has made us successful is the recognition that big healthcare organisations have a need to access non-clinical information. The average NHS Trust has 500 different forms and this system can process them in a matter of hours rather than weeks.”

Although the NHS is going through a period of change under the coalition Government, Mr Hudson said Cloud 2 will continue to work with the NHS, although he believes there is scope to grow the firm by winning private sector contracts.

He said: “Our intention is to focus on the NHS because it is going through a time of great change and we shouldn’t be ignoring that. We started doing this because we felt it had strong needs that we could help with.”

He added: “We have done a few projects for other organisations outside the NHS over the last couple of years and we recognised from the beginning that what we do would work just as well in a commercial setting and we want to grow and diversify the business.”

The company, which has a £700,000 turnover and 10 staff, plans to grow to £5m in the next three to four years, although Mr Hudson admits the public sector cuts are already beginning to bite.

“We were lucky in the first two years because we were largely insulated from the economic crash but it has begun to impact on us,” he said.

“It’s not too bad at the moment but people are not investing as much any more. We are not seeing any new projects coming out of primary care trusts, although existing clients are continuing to work with us. The other thing is project sizes are a lot smaller than they were.”

Mr Hudson said he would like to create an application (app) for NHS staff, which would store forms used by the NHS.

He said: “There is a lot of emphasis on trying to promote innovation in the NHS and share developments.

“We think that could be done by collating things on to one site and let other NHS trusts share the expertise.”

Looking to the year ahead, Mr Hudson added: “I think the market will continue to be challenging this year. Funds are hard to justify, which is a cause for concern but we are a safe pair of hands.

“We have a proven record in delivering these projects and it would be nice to think that trusts came to us. At the same time we are in the process of developing our commercial service and we hope that will take off in the same way.”

reward for growth potential

Cloud 2 exhibited alongside other businesses at Venturefest’s Innovation Showcase and was named as the firm with the best growth potential.

The prize, valued at £16,000, included mentoring support from the Alternative Board, office space, accountancy, legal and PR support as well as training.

Director Simon Hudson said: “Winning this prize will give us the push we need to do some of the things that have been on the back burner for a while.”

In 2009, support from Bradford Kickstart enabled Cloud 2 to land sales leads worth around £250,000 at a major NHS exhibition.

Last August it moved to the Bradford Wool Exchange from space at the Carlisle Business Centre provided by Bradford Grid, supported by Bradford Council’s Kickstart scheme.