#303: AI gets green light š¦ and yellow card šØ
The one-minute weekly healthtech roundup, by SomX
Hi healthtech friends,
Big week for AI in both directions. A Ā£10bn tech overhaul (AI triage and ambient scribes going properly national in the UK)ā¦.. but also the first complaints about doctors using AI badly have started to come through. Interesting times.
Also, NXGN USA are looking for committee members. If you think youāre a next generation healthtech leader and youāre based on the East coast, scroll on if you want to build the community with a budget šŗšøš½
Donāt like reading? Prefer digesting Pigeon through the ears? Jessica and Anna from SomX on last weekās stories here šš¼
News Bites š„Ŗ
šļø NHS accelerates AI rollout, with a new triage tool in the NHS App and ambient scribes going national: To save you reading the press release, the 3 points in this areā¦ (1) Ā£10bn funding over three years, (2) an AI triage tool inside the NHS App (200,000 patients this year, everyone by April 2028) and (3) a national push on scribes, starting in outpatients. The Sussex GP trial behind the triage tool cut phone queuing by 29%, which is fine, but does beg the question āare we optimising something (phone queueing) which shouldnāt even exist?ā Thereās a āĀ£41bn total benefits over a decadeā figure, which is said confidently, and with the expected level of irritating ambiguity to be completely justified whatever actually happens. Iām clearly going with a cynical vibe today, but does āĀ£41bn total benefitsā honestly mean anything to anyone? Just tell me if I can get an appointment and if my HCP can see their kids before theyāre in bed.
āļø First complaints made over clinician use of AI, HSJ reveals: I meanā¦ this was clearly just a matter of time. Absolutely nobody is surprised to hear that the GMC received 8 complaints against 8 individual doctors in 2025, plus 6 more against 5 doctors in the first half of 2026. Whatās surprising is how low the numbers are to be honest. Thatās not a slur on doctors (though, the thought that my med school mates are all now consultants is outrageous given the Facebook albums that they, and I, both know exist), itās just a comment on how much (realistically) AI is used without generating complaints. The GMCās line is that ādoctors are responsible for their own decisions when using AIā and thatās clearly being tested in practice. Given the NHS just committed to scaling AI notetaking nationally (see above), this numberās likely to increase beyond a rounding error fairly quickly. Are you a clinician and unsure what to use on your patients? āMedical device or put it in the binā is a pretty solid rule.
ā NICE gives draft green light to two non-invasive endometriosis tests, rejects a third: A positive tech story for you. Endotest (a saliva-based microRNA test from French biotech Ziwig) and EndoSure (a gut-electrical-signal sensor pad test) have been recommended for a three-year NHS evidence-gathering period. A third contender, DotLabās blood test DotEndo, didnāt make the cut, with NICE saying āthey shouldāve put Endo at the start of their name.ā Joke. They actually said it ārequires more researchā first. Good to know things are reaching market given that average time to diagnosis for endometriosis is currently >9 years. And good to know things that need more evidence arenāt actually reaching market. Consultation on the draft guidance runs until 27th July.
š§ Mindstep acquired by Onebright Group: Acquisition-fever is hitting the sector. Mindstepās digital screening, triage and adaptive self-care tools are being folded into Onebright, the largest private outpatient mental health and neurodevelopmental provider across the UK and Denmark. I first met Hamzah (cofounder) a couple of years ago when he came on my podcast and youāll be glad to know that this is another example of the good guys winning. We (SomX) also did a very cool project with Mindstep, filming Johnny Wilkinson talking about 6 mental health themes for their in-app content. Great causes all round. Congrats to Mindstep.
š©ŗ Wellpoint Health (Well.Me) acquires Cognitant Group and the Healthinote patient education platform: And anotherā¦ Well.Meās health screening kiosks (blood pressure, BMI, cardiovascular risk, the works) now sit alongside Cognitantās patient education and adherence tools, built for NHS, pharma and life sciences. Screening, plus education, plus population health analytics, all under one roof. Founder, Dr Tim Ringrose (a familiar face from the NHS Innovation Accelerator alumni network) stays on to build out the AI-enabled health journeys roadmap. Not saying every company that works with SomX gets acquired, but you knowā¦ these two did. Anyway, arguably the worst entrepreneurial move of all time is only mentioning SomX once every 6 months in the biggest newsletter in UK healthtech, but here we go... SomX does comms for healthtech companies. We do it well, so buy things off us if you want. There. Box ticked until Christmas.
š 3D-printed pills get a ā¬12M vote of confidence: 3D printing? How very 2015 of you. Oddly satisfying to see it back in a post-LLM world. Anyway, Helsinki's CurifyLabs raised ā¬12M Series A - they sell pharmacies a system that 3D-prints personalised medicines on-site. They have software that sets the exact dose and formulation, and a printer builds each tablet from GMP-made base materials and itās about 9x faster than by hand. Personalised paediatric and geriatric drug dosing is definitely in the āunglamorousā bucket of problems to solve in healthtech, but hey, heck of a market size and plenty of impact to be made.
If youāre an analyst and want to get ahead of the curve with valuing the latest investment deals, I suggest picking this one up.
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Last weekāsā¦ Getting AI regulated. A not so practical guide.
I go through changes happening to the regulatory landscape and how tech stacks with AI and LLMs within them are getting regulatedā¦ and continue to iterate and keep getting regulated, which hasnāt really been possible until now.
What to listen to š
This week itās Jamie Fox, co-Founder and CTO of Scarlet, Europe's only notified body specialised in software and AI medical devices. He built AI triage software at Babylon, which led him and co-founder James Dewar (also ex-Babylon, also previously a pod guest) to build a brand new notified body from the ground up, for iterative softwareā¦ like AI š. Why does regulation create artificial bottlenecks for founders? What does it actually mean to certify an LLM as a medical device?ā¦ All in here.
Jennifer Dixon sits down with Ricardo Baptista Leite (CEO of Health AI) and Professor Alastair Denniston to dig into the newly formed National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare. Timely, given this week's news.
The workforce "boom and bust," why covid cost the NHS Ā£20bn in lost care, and how the health service recovers while public spending stays squeezed.
Events š
Health Creators Connect (a SomX event, in partnership with Micropharm)
š
13 July, 7 to 9pm
šAtom Coffee, London W3
We (SomX), alongside MicroPharm, are bringing together the people who quietly run the UKās healthcare content machine for an intimate, invitation-only evening. Itās off the record, itās honest, itās real and itās a heck of a lot of valuable info if youāre a creator. Jessica from SomX is giving candid talk on the actual business of it - negotiating, working with brands, cash versus equity, hiring, getting paid properly, then a live AMA. If you make, shape or fund health content in the UK, get your application in. All will be revealed on why SomX can confidently talk on this, tooā¦ š¤«
Startup Lab x Specialist Briefings: AI Innovation vs Regulation, Is the UK Falling Behind or Playing It Safe?
š
22 July
š š¬š§ Hale House, London
UCLPartners and RADIANT CERSI team up for whatās shaping up to be the most on-the-nose session of the month, given everything above. If you want to argue about whether the UKās AI regulatory approach is cautious or just slow, this is your room.
Pangaea Data: Transforming Neurology with AI Workshop
š
14 July
š š¬š§ London
A hands-on look at applying AI to neurology workflows. Useful if youāre building or buying in this space and want practical detail rather than a vendor pitch deck.
Digital Health Summer Schools
š
16 to 17 July
š š¬š§ UK
Two days with NHS CIOs, CCIOs and CNIOs, with three national digital leaders already confirmed. Less polished-keynote, more how-do-we-actually-do-this, which is the useful kind.
WHH Womenās Health Horizons London Autumn Summit
š
22 September
š š¬š§ Emirates Stadium, London
A way off yet, but given this weekās endometriosis and womenās health funding stories, worth having on the radar early.
ABHI UK HealthTech Conference 2026
š
7 October
š š¬š§ London
Two days covering the full regulatory-to-market-access pipeline, MHRA early engagement, NICE pathways, procurement, the lot. Early bird pricing ends today, so if itās on your list, this is the day.
Visit the SomX events page or subscribe to SomXās events roundup for everything else.
Jobs & opportunities šµļøāāļø
AI Clinical Evaluation Workshop
š
Thursday 13th August, 6:00ā8:00 PM BST
š¬š§ Waterloo, London
Invite-only session for clinicians (apply at the link), chaired by Microsoft's Global CMO, who'll open with remarks on AI's shifting role in healthcare. Youāll independently put multiple AI tools through real-world clinical tasks using synthetic patient records, which feeds into a comparative study report earmarked for publication, with participants acknowledged, so it's a proper evaluation. If you're a clinician and curious how the tools actually stack up, very much worth applying.
šÆ Offscript finds you the buyers that LinkedIn canāt: LinkedIn still doesnāt have a āhealthtechā category, so if youāre selling into the NHS your best-fit buyers vanish somewhere between job titles, industry tags and keyword hacks. And letās be honest, Sales Navigator and Apollo only get you so far. OffScript kills the filters. You describe who youāre after in plain English (ācommercial leads at Series A digital health companies selling into the NHSā) and one search runs across every network at once. Every UK healthcare provider mapped and buying-intent signals layered on top. A new bit of plumbing for a lean BD team.
š©ŗ Head of Clinical Innovation, Doccla: Doccla runs virtual wards and remote monitoring for 60%+ of NHS ICBs, fresh off a Ā£35m Series B. This is the senior clinical seat where product, regulation and evidence meet - clinical sign-off on features, DCB0129/0160 safety, the MDR evidence strategy. Needs a licensed UK GP with digital health chops. A proper frontier role for a clinician who wants authority over what ships.
š©ŗ NHS England is hiring a Clinical Lead for digital clinical safety: A registered clinician to lead NHS England's Digital Clinical Governance Framework, own clinical safety (DCB0129/0160) and manage a team of informaticians. Band 8c (Ā£79.5kāĀ£91.6k) or Medical Leader 1, fixed term to March 2027, any NHSE office. Your chance to stop bad tech reaching the bedside.
šŗšøš½ NXGN USA is growing
The US arm of the next-gen healthtech and biotech community is expanding its committee. If youāre an early-career founder, clinician or operator stateside and want a seat at the table to organise events and community (with a budget), message me and Iāll forward it onto Aakash and Athena.
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See you next week, Pigeon fans āš¼
Healthtech Pigeon is produced by SomX - the media-led communications and creative agency for healthcare. We help healthtech, biotech, pharma and public sector organisations tell sharper stories through strategy, PR, content, design, events and media production. Built by clinicians, scientists and creatives who know the space. Work with us.