Hamish Grierson, of Thriva for building a health tech startup through direct sales and partnerships
The mood here in the UK is not exactly festive on Christmas Eve. Not only are there train strikes to contend with in the closing days of December, but key healthcare workers in the form of nurses, midwives and paramedics have also taken unprecedented industrial action. Then there are the ongoing problems. Accident and emergency units are overstretched to breaking point and it’s not that easy to see a GP.
And yet polls suggest that most Britons – and I’m one of them – hold the free National Health Service at the point of delivery close to their hearts. Created in the wake of World War II, it is generally seen as a massive work of good in an evil world.
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And the sheer size and range of the NHS – it’s the UK’s largest public sector employer – means that almost every health tech startup operates in its shadow to a greater or lesser extent. And that creates challenges and opportunities.
On the opportunity side of the equation, the NHS is potentially a profitable customer. Equally, there is a large market consisting of individuals who are keen to access health services provided by private sector providers. The challenge in that second category is to provide something that customers are prepared to pay for, given that so much is free at the point of delivery through the NHS. So maybe you need to offer something that the public health service doesn’t already offer or find a way to add value. For example, you can offer services that allow customers to avoid NHS waiting lists.
Within the System
So how can a healthcare startup position itself to operate within the UK healthcare system? On the eve of the Christmas holiday, I spoke with Hamish Grierson, CEO and co-founder of Thriva. Founded in 2018, the company markets blood test diagnostic services directly to the public, but also through partners including the NHS. I was eager to get his take on how private sector startups can interface with the state system.
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As Grierson explains, the company’s mission is to enable people to take control of their health by providing easy access to blood tests. The goal is to help clients identify or manage conditions and ensure better health outcomes in the longer term.
“The name of the company shows our ambition,” he says. “We want to help people thrive in good health.”
So what does it actually mean? Well, Thriva offers kits. The tests can be carried out at home and once the blood has been collected and sent, the results are returned within 48 hours with a GP assessment. The idea is that customers can also control their data and can also manage their health over time by taking into account the blood test results.
Finding customers
To date, the company has conducted nearly two million tests. So who is buying the service? “We have two buckets of customers,” he says. “First there are people who want to proactively manage their health. The second bucket consists of organisations, such as the NHS”
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So how easy (or difficult) is it for a private sector startup to build relationships with a National Health Service which is actually quite fragmented? At one level, it is a national service controlled not only by the British government at Westminster, but also to some extent by the devolved administrations (Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales). There is further fragmentation with a network of trusts managing hospitals and specialist services in their areas. Then there are GP surgeries, which are essentially private businesses paid for by government money.
The pilots
An easy market to break into? “It’s easy to start pilots,” says Grierson. “There are always pioneers within the faiths. But it’s harder to scale.”
The challenge then is to build pilot partnerships or supply agreements with trusts to create a much larger business.
Grierson says the NHS will buy services from new companies when it makes sense to do so. “If you can demonstrate that you’re offering something that people will engage with and enjoy, then you have an opportunity to add value.”
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For example, a partnership with the Royal Brompton Hospital sees Thriva provide home testing kits to cystic fibrosis patients. “Royal Brompton approached us and asked if we could supply kits for these patients. We were able to show that people liked home testing and we could add value to the NHS.
Grierson cites the example of immunocompromised patients for whom a stay in a clinic is not a good idea. Home testing is much safer.
So the next step is scaling. The company – which recorded revenues of £16m in 2020 – has just raised £13m in VC funding from a group of backers including Target Global. The next phase is to become a one-stop shop for blood diagnostics. This means more partnerships, especially with pharmacies.
As a public offering directive, Thriva is perhaps benefiting from a greater awareness of preventive health care managed by individuals rather than the health system. Likewise, there are opportunities for healthcare providers within the NHS system. In the latter case, the key for startups is to find a way to help health system managers solve the problems they face and open a conversation.
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