Transforming surgical pre-operative assessment

Leeds-based Asclepius MedTech is helping hospitals transform how they perform surgical pre-operative assessment. With Surgfit© patient friendly ‘at home’ surgical assessment technology designed to enable hospitals to provide safer and more effective surgical care, improve efficiencies and deliver better patient outcomes. 

The company was one of nineteen innovators chosen for Health Innovation Yorkshire  & Humber’s flagship accelerator programme, Propel@YH, which offers a six-month course of support and guidance for HealthTech SMEs looking to access the NHS market. 

How we supported Asclepius MedTech

Propel gave the company  curated access  to Leeds Teaching  Hospitals Trust’s clinicians and managers, and to stakeholders in the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Leeds City Council, the University of Leeds and the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Networks. All of which they have also leveraged outside the region.  

The programme also introduced the company to important ecosystem partners  who they continue to engage and work with on their journey to build Asclepius MedTech as a successful Yorkshire-based business attracting local talent.  

The rigour of the programme modules and workshops has helped to crystallise Asclepius Medtech’s proposition and helped them understand how to navigate the NHS healthcare systems, and better appreciate their needs, priorities, processes and challenges. It also helped the company to build and develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with hospital trusts.

Being part of the programme gave them the opportunity to be seen as a ‘true innovation partner’ and  have a meaningful impact in surgical pre-operative assessment.

Impacts and Outcomes

The programme has supported Asclepius Medtech in successfully winning a CPI award, worth £25,000 via their MARRS program, which funded the last part of their regulatory roadmap for DTAC and clinical safety compliance and will enable Surgfit to be used in hospitals in the West Yorkshire region and UK-wide.  

Asclepius Medtech also won a large West Yorkshire Launchpad: Innovate UK Investor Partnership Award, worth £350,000, for their AI development programme. This will be developed in partnership with Leeds University, Leeds Teaching Trust and the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care. 

The programme also gave the company a 6 month membership to Nexus Leeds, which facilitated a number workstreams including the DSDP programme to help us access talent in the region to support product development. As well as facilitating an application to the Mayors Big Ideas Challenge which is seeking health technologies to Tackle Health Inequalities. 

Being selected to join the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust’s Innovation Pop Up means that they can move forward more speedily with pilots and procurement discussions within local Trusts. 

Next steps since the programme

Asclepius Medtech is continuing to work with several trusts to pilot Surgfit© in clinical practice so that patients may access it as an alternative way of having their surgical pre-operative assessment in their own homes.  

The company also won Start-up of the Year 2025 at Digital Health Rewired in March in front of NHS stakeholders and industry partners.