Our Technology Story
Evolved through real NHS collaboration - not theory
FloKi has been shaped over time through direct collaboration with NHS teams, responding to real operational challenges across acute hospitals, community services and whole Trusts.
This journey reflects a deliberate focus on safety, usability and measurable impact, rather than rapid feature expansion.
Foundation: solving a real NHS problem (2017–2019)
FloKi was founded to address a persistent operational issue in healthcare:
critical medical equipment not being where it was expected, when it was needed.
Early work focused on:
- Reducing avoidable delays caused by missing or misplaced devices
- Understanding how equipment actually moves across wards and departments
- Designing visibility that works in live clinical environments
Initial hospital deployments demonstrated that even basic visibility could significantly reduce time spent searching and lower frustration for frontline teams.
What this established:
A practical foundation rooted in NHS reality, not theoretical design.
Proof, compliance and confidence (2020–2021)
As use expanded, the focus shifted to governance and safety.
NHS teams needed confidence that improved visibility could also support:
- Preventive maintenance
- Compliance requirements
- Inspection and audit readiness
A major pilot in Glasgow Royal Infirmary A&E demonstrated:
- Full visibility of tracked devices within the trial area
- Significant reductions in time spent searching
- Improved confidence in equipment readiness
What this proved:
Visibility could support both frontline efficiency and regulatory assurance.
Scaling across Hospital estates (2022–2023)
FloKi evolved to support larger, more complex environments.
During this phase, NHS teams were able to:
- Track hundreds of devices across multiple wards and departments
- Improve planning for maintenance and turnaround
- Extend visibility beyond acute settings into community pathways
This period included lessons captured through NHS co-production and Innovate UK programmes, ensuring development remained aligned with NHS needs and constraints.
What changed:
Equipment visibility became Trust-wide rather than departmental.
Trust-wide maturity and community care (2024–2025)
By 2024, FloKi had matured into a platform capable of supporting Trust-wide and community-based care pathways – not just individual departments.
NHS organisations were able to:
- Maintain a single, real-time view of equipment across hospitals, health centres and community services
- Deploy quickly, without heavy IT overhead or prolonged evaluation cycles
- See immediate operational value, rather than waiting months for benefit
This enabled:
- Smarter deployment and redistribution of existing assets
- Reduced duplication, loss and avoidable hire
- Improved utilisation across acute and community settings
- Better alignment with sustainability and Net Zero objectives
In short, FloKi moved from a departmental tool to practical, scalable equipment visibility across the entire care pathway.
As the platform matured through live NHS deployments, its real-world impact was recognised with the Tech for Good Award 2025.
Looking ahead — informed by NHS practice
Future development is guided by what NHS teams are asking for, not abstract product roadmaps.
Next focus areas include:
- Better insight into demand and utilisation trends
- More proactive recovery of misplaced assets
- Reduced unnecessary purchasing and hire through improved planning
- Increased automation of routine equipment workflows
The aim is not complexity, but less manual effort and fewer avoidable disruptions for clinical and engineering teams.
Why this journey matters
FloKi has evolved at NHS pace – learning from real use, responding to real constraints, and prioritising safety and usability at every stage.
This journey reflects:
- Controlled, deliberate growth
- Continuous NHS involvement
- Proven operation in live environments
It is designed to give Trusts confidence that FloKi is ready to support day-to-day operations now, while continuing to evolve responsibly.
Next steps:
If understanding how FloKi has matured helps provide confidence, you can explore further in two ways: