“I’m passionate about technology that makes a difference and using technological innovations to create remarkable experiences for patients, healthcare providers, our clients and our teams.”
Neil Barfield oversees the development of our bespoke digital technologies, which underpin mdgroup’s entire service offering.
Passionate about the positive impact new technologies can have on clinical research and the patient experience, Neil is looking forward to a year of exciting new releases. Here, Neil gives some insight into version three of our in-house digital platform, Primarius, and shares what’s next for mdgroup’s digital products and services.
Hi Neil! What is your role and key responsibilities at mdgroup?
As Chief Technology Officer, I look after the software development and product teams, as well as the wider technology and development across the company. It’s my job to oversee the production of technology to meet the company’s vision.
What are you most passionate about within your field of expertise?
Technology that makes a difference.
Often, technology is created for technology’s sake. But I think it’s most powerful when it’s created for a specific outcome. In our world, that could be creating a remarkable experience for a patient, or it could be making our operational staffs’ lives a bit easier. It also means providing data and insight that makes our products and services better and improves client outcomes.
So, it’s more about the outcome than the technology, and bringing teams together to really understand the need and deliver on it.
How do you translate your passion into action within your role at mdgroup?
The passion is all about the people. It’s building a good team; a really strong, powerful, capable team of individuals that understand where we’re going and get behind that company vision. It’s a team that drives the technology and product vision and has the skills to translate that into real solutions.
What new technologies are your team creating to provide remarkable patient experiences?
We’re developing the third generation of Primarius, which is mdgroup’s bespoke, in-house technology platform.
I describe Primarius as an ecosystem. It has many functions. The technology underpins all the services mdgroup offers to patients and clients, providing tools, solutions and data for our guys to deliver remarkable experiences and services to patients.
In addition to that, it provides direct technology to patients. So, providing mobile and web site applications where a patient can log in and get information and support around their study, get to know the nurses who will be caring for them, understand the site and what’s to be expected from their visits, and manage their travel and expenses.
They can also look at an upcoming visit, whether that’s to a site or having a nurse come to their home, and can get all the details about it in real-time.
We’re focusing on better technology for clients to get real-time data and analytics. They can see what’s going on with their studies, sites and patients. And we’ll also be providing tools for nurses who are carrying out trial visits to patients in their own homes.
And finally, what’s next for mdgroup’s digital products and services?
We’ve got releases for Primarius version three coming out regularly. And each release will add more and more functionality, really underpinning our service delivery, and providing valuable insight and reporting to clients.
We’re also looking more at technological innovation, including virtual visits, wearable technology, and other ways to use technology to engage patients and create remarkable experiences around the clinical journey.
