The former adrenaline junkie looking to ease the load on the NHS system

The CEO of DoctorLink is more focused now on ensuring patients know what sort of care they need before they arrive to A&E or a GP office, Andy Martin writes

Rupert Spiegekberg and DoctorLink aim to triage patients before they arrive at A&E, lifting the load on doctors and the NHS system

“What are you going to do if you start feeling ill around 10 at night?” asks Rupert Spiegelberg. “Probably nothing till the morning. Then you call up and speak to an overworked receptionist. You might get an appointment the following week. Or in two weeks. You have a blood test. Another week to get the results. It might be a month before you finally get to sit down and discuss what’s wrong with you.” By which time you might be either dead or better.

Alternatively, he suggests, you can click on Doctorlink, answer all the sorts of questions your doctor is going to ask you anyway, and the app will tell you whether you ought to be going to A&E right now or simply staying in bed and having a hot cup of tea. It has also been updated to give you instant feedback on whether or not you might have Covid-19 and what to do next.

Rupert Spiegelberg himself, half-Swiss half-English, at 48, looks in rosy health. Now CEO of Doctorlink, based in Covent Garden, he used to surf in Devon and Cornwall during his days at Bristol University. And he went on to sail across the Atlantic, from the Canary Islands to Saint Lucia (and came third in the ARC race). “I feel I’ve probably done that enough now,” he says. “My appetite for adrenaline only goes so far.”

Spiegelberg began his career as a financial journalist, writing for Bloomberg, and was eminent enough to be published in the pages of The Independent. “Having written about companies, I decided I wanted to do it myself.” He spent a year at the Insead Business School in Fontainebleau, then ventured into a start-up at the beginning of the internet boom, rejecting tempting offers from investment banks. “We raised £10m quite quickly and managed to spend it quite quickly too,” he says. “It was a great idea, poorly executed.”

He was based in Munich for a while working for a digital identity company. “On the internet, no one knows you’re a dog,” he says, quoting the old New Yorker cartoon. “But companies need to identify potential customers.” After four years in New York, he came back to England to take the helm at Doctorlink. “Having worked in fintech and regtech, healthcare was an important next step.” Spiegelberg adds with a grin, “the importance of it becomes clearer for you the older you get”.

It has already succeeded in reducing the number of GP appointments by 20% and the volume of calls to surgeries by 30%

On his return to this country his initial impression of the NHS – his diagnosis – was that it was suffering from overload. According to a GP Worklife survey, as many as 39 per cent of GPs are “likely to quit the NHS” by 2022. The point about the Doctorlink algorithm – which is registered as a “Class 1 medical device” – is that it can diagnose how acute the problem is. It can, as Spiegelberg puts it, “triage you to the right place”. It then helps you to get access to the right doctor in real time, day or night. And from the point of view of the NHS, it thereby takes the pressure off, improves workflow, and allows the specialists to concentrate on real and urgent cases.

Doctorlink has 10 million patients and 600 surgeries. It’s already succeeded in reducing the number of GP appointments by 20 per cent and the volume of calls to surgeries by 30 per cent. Spiegelberg reckons that it is saving each surgery around £150,000 a year. “Doctors want to solve real issues,” he says. “You don’t want to have to spend a lot of time telling people to go and take Lemsip.”

There are in the region of 350 million GP appointments every year in the UK alone. So there are huge potential savings to be made. “If you can take out 60 million a year,” says Spiegelberg, “then it frees up the system. And thereby saves lives. In Silicon Valley talk, you’re making the world a better place.”

Spiegelberg reckons that his tech can cater for 95 per cent of illnesses and conditions. So we put the app to the test. I listed my symptoms and Doctorlink came right back at me in a matter of minutes with the correct answer: “prolapsed disc”. I didn’t actually have one (fortunately), but I know all too well what it’s like, so I can vouch for the app’s diagnostic powers. All of which, had I had a prolapsed disc, would have just saved both me and the NHS a whole lot of hassle.

Spiegelberg theorised that the reason NHS attempts to digitise in the past have failed is that they were too grandiose, too all-encompassing. “We’re doing it gradually, step by step, so actual doctors are able to expand their service without increasing their costs.” And what about waiting times and missed appointments and all the other headline issues in the health system? “It’s so frustrating for me to read about all these problems,” says Spiegelberg. “The tech is there. I feel we’ve got a solution.”

The idea is that instead of hanging about in A&E for several hours waiting to see someone and groaning in pain, the initial assessment would already have been done and you can be appropriately tagged and directed. Spiegelberg says it’s not about replacing doctors, only enhancing the system and making life easier. “It’s like having an exo-skeleton in a factory – instead of lifting 50lbs you can lift 500.”

Away from the business, Spiegelberg still has plans to do the Haute Route one of these days, skiing across the roof of the Alps, from Chamonix to Zermatt. “Maybe next year,” he says. “Although I think I said that last year. I still have to get in shape for that. There’s nothing worse than being stuck up a mountain.” If he does fall down a crevasse or break a leg, he may have to rely on a trusty old St Bernard to come his rescue. “Of course I will take my Doctorlink app with me. A preliminary diagnosis from the app would help the St Bernard know whether to bring a flask of whisky or morphine with the rescue team.”