Health app review platform ORCHA has entered into a partnership with Greater Manchester’s Business Growth Hub.
ORCHA, the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications, provides the most comprehensive and robust objective baseline assessment of health and fitness related apps.
With over 2,000 full reviews undertaken, and over 172,000 apps filtered and assessed to date, ORCHA’s scoring approach enables end users, or health and care professionals and carers, to assess the quality and suitability of one app over another.
Manchester business support service the Business Growth Hub, part of The Growth Company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ORCHA in recognition of the rapidly growing importance and value of opportunities in digital health and MedTech emerging in Greater Manchester.
“Greater Manchester has a great community of app developers already working in the health sector, and a great deal more with the potential to enter this market,” said Ian MacArthur, head of sectors at Business Growth Hub.
“Working with ORCHA we will open up new markets and ensure the apps are fit for purpose and commercially successful.”
For a small fee, Greater Manchester developers can now have their app reviewed against ORCHA’s 118-point review model, receiving a report outlining areas of strength and potential development for their app, within just one week.
After refinements based on ORCHA’s feedback, the app then goes on to all of ORCHA’s portals which are accessible to both the public and health and care professionals alike.
Developers will also be provided with free ‘top tips’ for creating products for the health and care sector.
The advice centres on key elements of trust, functionality, data privacy, testing, content and user testing – all focused on the demands of the health and care sector.
ORCHA CEO Liz Ashall-Payne said: “We want to support app developers in Manchester by offering a new route to market and showcasing the very best health apps.
“App developers we work with benefit from impartial feedback and comparison with others in the market to improve their product.
“Together we can create a thriving market place for apps that really benefit people and communities.”
A webinar series is also being planned, designed to enhance developers understanding of the market.
The series will cover the key challenges and opportunities of the sector including the role of apps in achieving outcomes, privacy issues and the role, plans and policies of national bodies regarding the use of apps in healthcare settings.