Dr Rachael Grimaldi is an anaesthetist in the NHS who founded Card Medic at the beginning of the pandemic. Rachael noticed that the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) used to shield all health workers during covid brought massive communication barriers with it. With doctors and nurses gowned-up, masked and covered head to toe, patients struggled to see, hear and understand them. Card Medic is a digital tool developed to close the gap in communication. Its success during the pandemic ensured its post-pandemic success in a variety of healthcare settings including hospitals, ambulances and more.

Hospitals are unique places which bring anxiety and stress to patients where good communication is imperative. Communication in healthcare is much more than just translation services for patients who don’t speak the primary language of the health system. It also encompasses patients with cognitive impairment, sight loss, hearing loss, autism, and other barriers to communication. We also touch on communication in the context of health literacy, its impact on health outcomes and the social mission of Card Medic developing Tech for Good.

Award-winning Card Medic’s success has been covered internationally including in the BBC and The Guardian. They have also done three accelerators in the US and UK (The Hill, Mass Challenge and Texas Medical Centre) and Rachael gives her perspective of these accelerators from the background of a non-business founder. We touch on whether clinical founder can work effectively in a startup whilst still maintaining some clinical work and how Rachael effectively manages a portfolio career in the NHS.