26 May 2017

CEO SImon Hansford says the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach offered by US cloud platforms is not appropriate for specialised sectors such as healthcare.

UKCloud has launched a new division to deliver an open and collaborative public cloud platform for the healthcare industry.

The firm – which describes itself as the  “easy to adopt, easy to use and easy to leave” cloud services company – says UKCloud Health will support organisations in health, care, research and life sciences, and pharmaceuticals.

The platform has been launched with 29 partners and 30 customers, including Genomics England and the Devon Partnership NHS Trust. 

The initial UKCloud Health launch partners include Capgemini, Digital Healthcare Management, Informatica Systems, Siemens Healthineers, Wiggly-Amps, amongst others. 

The new division is also supported by a dedicated advisory board of prominent industry leaders, including former science and innovation minister Lord Paul Drayson; Rachel Neaman, former Department of Health digital leader; and Cathrin Petty, European head of healthcare at CVC Capital Partners.

The interoperability of UKCloud’s Health platform provides an online community enabling open data sharing, as UKCloud CEO Simon Hansford explains.

The UKCloud Health platform has been launched with 29 partners and 30 customers.

“Vast quantities of data are generated by research institutions and companies, and as that research moves into product or drug development, yet more data is generated through trials, for instance. 

“Once medication, procedures or devices are approved – which produces even more data – they reach the NHS and other mainstream health providers, where more data is generated and fed back through iterative cycles to the research institutions and pharmaceutical companies.” 

Hansford believes that providing a central, secure, open and collaborative cloud platform to store and appropriately share all these data will provide a great deal of value to the healthcare industry as a whole.

He goes on to say that cloud adoption rates in the healthcare sector are typically impeded by a host of different challenges. As well as significant funding and efficiency gaps, Hansford says there is a “significant” trust issue when it comes to the public perception of the security of highly sensitive data in the cloud. 

“We pride ourselves on offering the highest possible levels of assurance and believe the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach offered by US headquartered generalist cloud platforms is not appropriate for specialised sectors such as healthcare, where issues of trust, privacy and interoperability are particularly important.”