15. DrDoctor

Company: DrDoctor

CEO: Tom Whicher

Website: https://www.drdoctor.co.uk/

About DrDoctor

Tom Whicher, CEO and founder of DrDoctor, is driving the shift to hybrid healthcare across the NHS – blending technology with human care to ensure every patient gets the right appointment, with the right person, in the right place, at the right time. Under Tom’s leadership, DrDoctor has become one of the most trusted healthtech partners to the NHS, transforming how millions of patients access and manage their care.

Tom’s strategic vision is rooted in the belief that healthcare should work smarter, not harder. DrDoctor, founded in 2012, connects fragmented systems across hospitals, community services, and patients to power a hybrid model. Today, DrDoctor manages over 140 million appointments for 36 million patients and is trusted by more than 70 NHS organisations, covering 64% of the country. It has delivered £100m of value of the health system in the UK.

At the heart of Tom’s strategy is removing friction from patient journeys. In the last 12 months, DrDoctor has delivered more than 205 million appointment notifications via SMS and digital channels – helping patients manage their appointments easily and reducing the number of wasted slots. The platform achieves up to 88% print avoidance, saving millions each year for individual Trusts – savings that are expected to grow further with upcoming postal cost increases. The result is not just improved patient experience but significant operational impact. At Bradford Teaching Hospitals, the introduction of DrDoctor’s tools enabled over 80,000 digital bookings within three months and cut patient call waiting times by up to 90 minutes.

In 2024, Tom launched DrDoctor’s Smart Centre, powered by AI – a set of pioneering products that predict which patients are most at risk of missing appointments and dynamically optimises clinic capacity through targeted, automated interventions. Early results have shown that Smart Centre reduces missed appointments by 30%. With the waitlist nearly as high as the number of DNAs every year, this directly addresses one of the NHS’s most costly and persistent challenges.

Under Tom’s leadership, DrDoctor continues to scale rapidly. The team has grown by 45% over the past year to 146 people, fuelled by a £10m investment round led by YFM Equity Partners. With 2023 revenues exceeding £10m and a current valuation of £80m, DrDoctor is delivering both commercial success and system-level change against a backdrop of NHS reform.