INSIGHTS / News

From left to right: Andy Knapp, Charles Solanki, Sam Evans, Conor Ramsden (all Lutra Health), Roger Killen (QantX)

SETsquared Exeter company, Lutra Health, has raised £400k from QantX and a syndicate of angels to support the commercial rollout of their platform as the definitive tool for community eye care.

More than seven million care episodes occur every year in ophthalmology – the highest volume speciality in the NHS. Lutra Health’s Founder, Sam Evans, saw huge inefficiencies across the speciality’s primary and secondary care routes, a disconnect which resulted in delays and increasing levels of irreversible sight loss and made worse by the COVID-19 backlog, with over half a million patients waiting more than a year for treatment.

Lutra Health is a software platform transforming eyecare pathways for cataract patients and practitioners alike. Its enVoi app securely integrates electronic patient records and allows community healthcare specialists to refer patients directly to surgery, removing the need for costly and time-consuming outpatient visits.

For common eye care procedures, such as cataract surgery, patients were making multiple trips to the hospital. To reduce the number of hospital visits, Sam began leveraging the expertise of community optometrists by requesting “enhanced” cataract referrals and patient questionnaires. This additional information allowed Sam to accurately triage patients instead of requiring a pre-operative hospital visit.

When trialled in West Wales on 1,500 cataract patients, this method achieved a 75% reduction in outpatient visits. This was a huge financial and productivity gain for the hospital and made the procedure more convenient for patients – many of whom must travel a significant distance to reach their nearest hospital.

With funding from the QantX Blavatnik Prize for Innovation, Lutra has launched its community eyecare platform – connecting patients, optometrists and eye surgeons. This is now in use in NHS Scotland with remarkable results, demonstrating a 91% reduction in cataract outpatient visits and a reduction in referral-to-listing time from over 6 months to just 11 days.

Sam Evans, Co-founder, commented, “The investment and support we have received from QantX has turbo-boosted this business.  The challenges involved in starting a business in this sector are not insignificant, but with the combination of cash and deep sector knowledge that QantX bring we are in a great position to grow quickly.  It was fantastic to have their support early on when we won the Blavatnik Prize, and now with this equity investment they are really backing up that early faith in our team and product.” 

Roger Killen, QantX Partner, commented, “We met Lutra Health in 2022 and were excited by their idea of engaging high street optometry to improve the productivity of Ophthalmic specialists, whilst saving money for the NHS and halving patient waits.  We awarded the team with a Blavatnik Prize for Innovation to prove their concept. Their trial exceeded expectations and we’re delighted to make our first investment in the Company. I look forward to working with the team to maximise their positive impact on eye care.”

Following their raise, Lutra are continuing to develop their platform for roll out across NHS boards, private healthcare providers and leading high street opticians.