Improving NHS services through the use of technology “is about solving a human problem”, the executive director of a Yorkshire digital services company has said.

Liz Whitefield, co-founder and executive director of Leeds-based Hippo Digital, told The Yorkshire Post Health & Life Sciences Business Breakfast that the company’s core ethos is redesigning and building services “with humans at the heart of it”.

“Technology is only as valuable as the difference it makes for those people using it on a day-to-day basis,” she said.

"It is about designing for a patient, a carer, a healthcare professional, a paramedic. It is about understanding their needs.

Liz Whitefield of HIppo at the conference

placeholder image — Liz Whitefield of HIppo at the conference

"Our focus is never on technology, it is about stripping out friction, helping people to understand services and really easing the burden on frontline teams where we can.

"Real innovation isn’t just about buzzwords, it is about solving a human problem.”

Hippo Digital, which was the headline sponsor for the business breakfast, has conducted projects such as helping Yorkshire Ambulance Service improve its response times through the creation of a ‘digital twin’ mirroring their real-world operations and analysing what changes could be made.

Among its findings were that reducing missed meal breaks for paramedics not only improved staff welfare but also helped improve response times.

It also worked with Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust on the creation of an AI tool to assist hospital pharmacists with prioritising patients with the greatest clinical need.

Ms Whitefield told the event: "I’m incredibly proud of the work we do in Yorkshire. Innovation is hard but innovation in healthcare is a completely different level; the governance, the regulations, trying to prove again and again your solution is viable while you are trying to raise funding as well. We all have a role to support that.”