Caerphilly-based start-up Signum Health has been selected as one of only 34 companies to be recognised as offering the highest potential to help NHS England meet the challenges of an ageing population and scarce resources.

The prestigious NHS accelerator scheme, which has already saved more than £50m for the NHS, is designed to work intensively with digital companies to refine, develop and scale their innovation across the NHS and social care sector.

This is the first year the accelerator has been launched outside London, with the South West Accelerator choosing just five companies, Signum Health being one.

Signum Health’s i-navigator is a Social Prescribing tool which supports people in need of non-clinical care such as anxiety and depression, loneliness and isolation and weight loss. With its integrated ecosystem of providers, i-navigator enables individuals and professionals across all care sectors to easily identify and refer to a range of accredited and user rated services, whilst providing 360-degree feedback direct into the patient’s medical record.

i-navigator will reduce unnecessary GP appointment time and allow patients to access non-clinical support from home and at a time and place convenient to them.

The Welsh ICE-headquartered business also has an office in Taunton and will be supported through NHS England’s South West Academic Health Science Network. The network selects digital companies to work with to help speed up access to the latest technologies and ensure patients and the NHS can benefit from products that help to improve the health system.

Signum Health’s CEO Victoria Norman said: “Our core goal is to enable patients, pharmacies, GPs and other alternative healthcare services, to work more efficiently by sharing health information in a way that benefits everyone.

“To have been accepted on such a prestigious accelerator programme directly linked to the NHS in England is amazing for us. For the next year we will be mentored by key people within the NHS, introduced to innovators within the health sector and fully supported to grow and expand i-Navigator.”

Welsh Government Economy Secretary, Ken Skates said: “Huge congratulations to Signum Health on this impressive achievement. It is a result of a great deal of hard work and recognises the innovation and high quality of the product developed by the company.

“As a Welsh Government we are proud to have supported Signum Health’s growth and development through our Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme and I wish the company every success with this project and for the future more broadly.”