HEALTHY.IO ANNOUNCES ROLL OUT OF DIP UTI SMARTPHONE URINALYSIS KIT AT DAY LEWIS PHARMACIES

Healthy.io’s innovative smartphone app to detect urinary tract infections (UTI) is being launched to over 285 Day Lewis pharmacies across the UK. The app and the service allow women to test for a UTI and access prescription-only medicine when appropriate without seeing a GP and is the only home urinalysis kit approved by the CE.

The Dip UTI test kit combines the traditional dipstick test used by GPs, a no-mess pop-up cup to collect a urine sample, a proprietary colour-board which ensures a highly accurate reading and the intelligent smartphone app — which is the first technology to transform a smartphone camera into a clinical device equivalent to lab-based analysers.

Women will now be able to get a kit from any Day Lewis pharmacy in the UK,  where a pharmacy advisor will ask a few questions to make sure a home-based test is appropriate. If it is, the kit will be available for purchase at a cost of £10.

After the user completes the test, she visits any participating pharmacy where a specially trained pharmacist will assess her condition based on the test results and symptoms. If the test and symptoms indicate she has a bacterial infection, the pharmacist can supply a three-day course of prescription-only medicine, under a patient group direction (PGD), without the need to see a GP.

Pharmacist consultation and prescription-only medicine will cost £15; there is no charge for the pharmacist consultation if the medicine is not suitable/not supplied.

The rollout in Day Lewis comes after a successful launch in hundreds of Boots pharmacies  across the UK and online with overwhelmingly positive feedback from women who accessed the service. According to Libby McManus, a healthcare professional who used the service earlier this year in London, “The most important thing when I have a UTI is to know that I’m going to get treatment really quickly...so giving women the ability to diagnose it.. and reducing the need to go to the GP, all power to the women.”

UTI is one of the most common bacterial infections seen by family doctors and accounts for up to 3% of all GP visits. One in two women will experience at least one urine infection in her lifetime, and one in three will experience their first UTI before the age of 24.

Day Lewis was established in 1975 and continues to be a family operated business and is one of the largest independent pharmacy chains in the UK, with over 285 locations.

Tim Rendell FFRPS FRPharmS, Head of Pharmacy at Day Lewis says: “ Pharmacy is an evolving and exciting place to be. This new  service puts Day Lewis at the forefront of the healthcare revolution”

Katherine Ward, the Chief Commercial Officer of Healthy.io says: “We are thrilled to partner with Day Lewis Pharmacies and to provide more women across the UK with access to our patented, clinically proven, and time saving smartphone enabled urine testing kit which they can use from the comfort of their own homes.” 

About Healthy.io

Healthy.io is the category creator of smartphone urinalysis, offering the only FDA cleared and CE approved home urine test equivalent to lab-based devices. Its pioneering technology is shifting clinical grade urinalysis from the lab to the home. Same test, any location, no quality compromise. 

Healthy.io has formed partnerships with leading healthcare organisations across the globe. Alliances with the National Health Service in the UK including Modality Partnership, Siemens Healthineers, the US National Kidney Foundation, Geisinger Health and the Modality GP super practice are making home urine testing a reality for millions of patients worldwide.  

In the UK the Healthy.io has been adopted by the NHS Innovation Accelerator Scheme which fast-tracks evidence-based technologies that have the potential to deliver improvements in patient care.

 About Day Lewis Pharmacy

The Day Lewis Group is an award-winning family business, consisting of one of the largest independent pharmacy chains in the UK and Europe. Founded by the late Kirit Patel MBE and his brother JC Patel in 1975. The business is now under the leadership of siblings, Jay, Rupa & Sam.

The Group remains a family-owned entity today, having grown from one pharmacy in Southborough to owning and managing over 285 pharmacies in the UK today. Day Lewis employs over 2600 people and has a major presence in the South of England, from Cornwall to Greater London. The company also has the management rights to the pharmacy concession in Harrods, the worldfamous department store in Knightsbridge, London.

As well as a strong retail pharmacy base, the Group contains a central distribution division, with warehouses equipped with Knapp automation, in order to supply over 4500 pharmaceutical products to its retail pharmacies in the UK.

Throughout its dynamic history in community pharmacy and the business arena, Day Lewis has advanced from being a traditional retail pharmacy business, dispensing medication and offering retail products, into a patient-orientated service provider.