We were honored to be invited to present at the inaugural UK:Türkiye Healthy Ageing Summit. The event was organised by UK Government and DEİK (Foreign Economic Relations Board of Türkiye). In attendance were the UK ambassador to Türkiye, Jill Morris, and the Deputy Minister for Health of Türkiye, Assoc. Prof. Şuayip Birinci.

This summit brought together some of the best and brightest prospects in healthcare from the two countries to discuss how cross-border collaboration and knowledge-sharing can lead to better implementation of health ageing initiatives.

Healthy ageing is a pertinent topic as countries throughout the world are seeing progressively older populations with a definitive shift in healthcare burden towards long-term multi-morbidity and chronic illness. With this comes an increase in cost to the healthcare system at-large and often a reduction in the perceived quality of care that the patient receives.

Türkiye's 65 and older population is expected to more than triple by 2050, and the country is ageing at the second-fastest pace among OECD countries. It was clear during the summit that it’s a high priority for both government and private sector stakeholders to improve support for healthy ageing.

Novocuris was represented by Dr Saideep Gogineni (Founder and CEO) and Dr Fraser Morgan (Chief Medical Officer), who were invited to speak on best practices in patient-care innovation. We demonstrated how implementation of our mobile application can simplify and streamline the journey for the patient, while automating administrative tasks and providing the clinician with vital data to tailor plans to the needs of the population. There was an additional focus on the importance of strong retention in the healthcare setting, and the utility of the Novocuris application for interactive engagement with educational content, and the subsequent empowerment of patients to better care for themselves.

Data was also presented from our application’s medication reminder module, which has demonstrated a significant improvement in eyedrop compliance in patients post-cataract surgery. This showcased the importance of delivering robust and clinically effective digital health solutions. Furthermore, participation in care plans from carers/family members in our app was a key point of discussion. Research suggests that involving family and friends in a patient’s care can significantly improve patient outcomes, including reducing the likelihood of hospital admissions.

The closing remarks were delivered by the UK ambassador to Türkiye, Jill Morris, who spoke at length about the power of collaboration and knowledge sharing between both the UK and Türkiye to bring about a more prosperous future, with healthier ageing populations in both countries.

It was inspiring to meet influential stakeholders from both countries, with commitment to solving a shared problem. Healthy ageing is a dynamic and developing field of study within the medical setting, and one Novocuris is committed to helping solve. We are already looking forward to the 2025 summit!