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Newcastle design company looks to break into American healthcare market

Newcastle-based design company Infinite, and their strategic partners within the NHS, are looking to break into the US healthcare market.

Infinite were last year commissioned by The North East Transformation System (NETS), a specialist training team within the NHS, to design and develop a native iPad called LeanApp designed to help healthcare professionals measure and analyse their working processes.

First developed by industrial exemplars Toyota in Japan, ‘Lean thinking’ promotes a business philosophy called ‘Kaizen’, meaning ‘continuous improvement’, where processes are measured and analysed to identify and eliminate waste.

The app user observes a patient pathway and enters measurement data into their mobile device. It then interprets this data and generates reports which can be shared instantly with other team members, reducing time and costs.

Since the app’s conception and adoption within the NHS, new features have been added and a significant user base has been built. Three versions are now available: LeanMed of use in healthcare, LeanMan for use in manufacturing and LeanAppQI for quality improvement events.

The product is currently being piloted by a major, US based, Lean education and training company and health system, with a view to exploring commercial opportunities in the US.

Des Kennedy, Managing Director at Infinite, said: “What we’ve created is a powerful app which is very easy to use. Following the app’s success with the NETS team it became obvious that we should commercialise the product and offer it to a wider audience.”

“The US healthcare pilot is very exciting and we’ve also had positive feedback from major manufacturing companies. Improvement specialists like the product because it’s simple yet offers huge benefits in helping them reduce waste and manage their time and costs.”

The Lean App will be showcased in London this week, 21 - 24 April, at The International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare. For further information visit www.leanapp.info or www.infinitedesign.com

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