With the advent of digital transformation in healthcare, visual interpretation of cellular biology captured in images provides data-backed answers for people who seek an answer to the question, “What is wrong with me?” before they decide on the best steps to take in attending to their health concerns. Combining the power of human intelligence and digital technology, there is an improved and comprehensive understanding of bodily functions and systems, to promote good health, through adequate cure and prevention of relapse—the demand for qualified diagnostics has increased within the healthcare sector, of those who can use digitized diagnostic abilities as a tool for excellence in this regard.
Clinicians are reliant on accurate diagnostics that help reduce human error as well as produce precise diagnostic results in a short turnaround time. The accuracy of data, and speed of delivery help in improving the treatment measures for their patients. But with concerns such as a shortage in supply of technically advanced pathologies, access to accurate diagnostics is a concern that keeps the healthcare sector from meeting the doctor-patient objectives for accurate data, hence below-par treatment becomes the order of the day.
Axon Diagnostics is a digitized solution that amplifies the process of determining which disease or condition explains a person’s symptoms. Providing adequate solutions by enabling doctors to offer an expert diagnosis, regardless of any geographical region or location thereby facilitating the instant availability of trained specialists 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They are set to disrupt the global radiology and pathology markets through their teleradiology technology advancements, and modern-day diagnostic imaging technologies.
Their care providers are trained to leverage technology to attain the confidence that they require in diagnosing their patients. This in turn improves the quality of patients’ lives and provides better diagnostic care for all.
In an interview with Insights Care, Paul Cornell, General Manager, walks us through Axon Diagnostics’ technology and its role in turning the direction of diagnostics around.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
Kindly tell us the source of inspiration. What led you to venture into the field of digital pathology?
As a team, we have extensive experience in teleradiology and the process of digitizing radiology across regions. There are lots of elements that can be applied to the world of pathology to modernize how pathology is handled in the UK. Our current business lends itself very well to benefiting the pathology market and its rapid digitization of it.
Brief us about the company and shed some light on your operations there in contributing to the company’s growth.
The company was conceived in November 2020 with a mission to disrupt the UK and global tele-diagnostics (radiology and pathology) market by doing things differently. We provide our customers with a suite of services to support the delivery of cost-effective and highly efficient diagnostic services. We use a proprietary and globally unique “Netflix style” technology which allows us to deliver services at rapid speed and highly secure. We are now just over two years old and our growth has been unprecedented in this market.
Can you elaborate upon the core values, mission and vision on which the company is built?
Our mission is to save the NHS money, improve the working lives of clinicians and support better diagnostic care for all.
- Clinically Led
- Collaborative
- People Focused
- Innovative and Agile
- Fair and Socially Conscious
What diagnostic tools does the organization find to be essential in conducting its pathology operations?
Axon Diagnostics is all about first disrupting the norm to find better ways of delivering care under challenging conditions. We have come up with innovative technology and solutions to address these challenges. But as one of our core values suggests, we strive to continue to innovate and remain agile in our operations allowing us to pivot quickly to evolve with the changing demands of the market.
AI is a widely talked about area of innovation and development within healthcare and we believe that within diagnostics this will become a significant tool to improve outcomes. We are working closely with a number of partners in the AI and technology space to ensure that we can provide our customers with the best tools out there to improve efficiency and clinical outcomes.
What advice would you like to give to budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts who desire to venture into the field of digital pathology?
I would say that the three most important things to keep at the forefront of your mind are:
- Regardless of the decision that you make from design to commercialization, always revert to thinking about the patient’s benefit.
- Be forward-thinking. Think about developing the service for tomorrow on a platform that is agile and allows you to keep up with the rapid acceleration seen in the technology space.
- Work closely with your end users from an embryonic stage. Many in the past had a ‘build it and they will come’ attitude and have failed to deliver effective solutions to the real-life problem facing healthcare.
How do you envision scaling your organization’s services and operations in 2023 and beyond?
We have ambitious growth plans and are engaging with teams internationally to utilize our technology and solutions to help with the challenges facing other healthcare markets across the world.
What are some of the testimonials or recognition that accurately highlight your organization’s position in the market?
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde is delighted to have engaged Axon Diagnostics as an outsourced reporting house. From initial engagement to implementation, the process has been seamless and managed in a very professional manner. The quality of service is excellent.
– Mary McKee, General Manager Imaging, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
