The Real Healthcare Revolution is Access

Innovation in healthcare is increasingly being driven not by new medicines but by better access to existing ones. As digital care becomes more commonplace and patients expect simpler, faster routes to treatment, healthcare providers are rethinking how services are delivered. Jonathan Robson, founder of Mamedica, a UK specialist medical cannabis clinic, explains why improving the patient journey may prove just as transformative as the next medical breakthrough. 

What gap in healthcare access made you believe Mamedica was needed?
Medical cannabis has been legal in the UK since 2018, but for many patients, awareness and access have not kept pace with the change in law. People living with chronic conditions have often tried multiple conventional treatments without knowing that medical cannabis could be a legal option, whether they may be eligible, or how to access a clinically credible pathway to speak to the right specialist. My motivation came from seeing that disconnect first-hand and looking closely at the patient journey. If this is a regulated medicine, the pathway should not be so difficult for people to understand and navigate. That was the starting point for Mamedica – to build a service that is safe, specialist-led, regulated and designed around the patient experience, from eligibility screening through to prescribing and the vital ongoing support. In healthcare, innovation is not always about inventing a new treatment. Sometimes the real breakthrough is making an existing treatment pathway accessible to the people who may benefit from it. That is where technology can do real good, not by replacing clinicians, but by making the route to specialist care clearer, faster and more manageable for patients.

Why is healthcare innovation increasingly about access and delivery rather than clinical breakthroughs?
Clinical breakthroughs will always matter, but a treatment only has impact if patients can access it safely and consistently. In many areas of healthcare, the infrastructure, clinicians and regulatory framework already exist, but the delivery model has not caught up with how patients live. People are managing work, caring responsibilities, mobility issues, pain, anxiety, fatigue and complex medical histories. If the system requires them to fight through layers of uncertainty before they even know whether a treatment is appropriate, innovation is being blocked at the point of access. That is why the next phase of healthcare innovation is increasingly about delivery. Remote consultations, secure digital onboarding, digital consent, structured follow-up and patient-reported outcomes can make healthcare easier to access without lowering clinical standards. At the heart of Mamedica’s digital pathway is Pharmedica, our proprietary healthcare platform built to manage cannabis-based prescriptions in line with UK regulation, while securely connecting patients with specialist clinicians and pharmacists. Its role is not to replace clinical judgement, but to make access to it faster, clearer and more joined-up across the care journey.

What does “removing friction” in patient care actually look like in practice?
When we talk about removing friction, we are really talking about taking unnecessary stress out of the patient journey while keeping the right clinical safeguards in place. That starts with helping patients understand whether they may be eligible before they spend time and money unnecessarily. It also means making the medical-records process clearer and offering discreet, convenient consultations with specialist doctors where remote care is clinically appropriate. A lot of the patient experience is shaped by the small details. Technology can bring repeat prescriptions, delivery updates, key documents and patient information into one place, so people are not left trying to manage different parts of the process on their own. These details may not seem glamorous, but together they make care feel safer, clearer and more predictable. In regulated healthcare, frictionless care does not mean careless care. It means building a pathway where compliance, clinical governance and patient experience work together. The patient should feel that the process is simple, but behind that simplicity there has to be structure, safety, documentation and specialist oversight.

Where do traditional healthcare pathways still fail patients most often?
The NHS is under enormous pressure, and clinicians are doing very difficult work every day, so this is not about criticising individual healthcare professionals. The issue is that some pathways were not designed for the reality of long-term, complex or treatment-resistant conditions. Patients can move through multiple appointments, medications and waiting periods without feeling that all appropriate options have been clearly explained to them. When it comes to medical cannabis, that gap is particularly visible because NHS access remains extremely limited, and many patients are still unsure whether medical cannabis is legal, whether they may be eligible, whether their GP can help, or whether they need to see a specialist. The most common gap is clarity. Specialist providers like Mamedica can complement the wider healthcare system by giving eligible patients a regulated, clinically led route into assessment where conventional options have not provided adequate relief. Better access is not about bypassing the system; it is about creating a more transparent and responsible route through it.

How are regulated treatment areas like medical cannabis changing expectations around patient access and clinical acceptance in healthcare more broadly?
Medical cannabis is changing expectations because patients increasingly want convenience, legitimacy and clinical safety to work together. They want digital access, but they also want to know the service is properly regulated, the clinicians are specialists, and prescribing decisions are being made responsibly. That shift matters because medical cannabis has been legal and specialist-prescribed for years, yet many patients still experience confusion, stigma or practical barriers to access. Patients also increasingly expect more visibility over their own journey, from understanding treatment options and pricing through to tracking prescriptions, delivery and ongoing care in one centralised place. To date, Mamedica has supported more than 15,000 patients through a structured digital pathway covering eligibility screening, specialist consultation, prescription management, dispensing, delivery and follow-up. That scale shows demand is not marginal. There is a substantial group of patients looking for safe, regulated access when other treatments have not worked for them. Recent patient data from across the sector also shows why the conversation is moving forward. In a survey of more than 6,000 patients from Mamedica, Alternaleaf, CB1 Medical and Curaleaf, 97.6% reported symptom improvement, 92.3% reported improved sleep and 93.5% reported improved day-to-day functioning. That should be acknowledged responsibly, with the clear caveat that patient-reported data is not the same as definitive clinical efficacy evidence. The sector needs to recognise real-world patient experience while continuing to call for stronger research, careful patient selection and ongoing monitoring.

What role does patient education play in improving access and long-term care success?
Patient education is one of the most important parts of access, because if someone does not know medical cannabis is legal, does not understand the eligibility criteria, or feels too much stigma to ask a question, the pathway might as well not exist. A major part of Mamedica’s role has been to explain that this is not recreational cannabis and it is not about replacing clinical judgement. It is a regulated treatment option that may be considered by a specialist doctor for eligible patients, often after conventional treatments have not provided adequate relief. Good education also protects patients. It helps people understand that medical cannabis is not suitable for everyone, that proper clinical assessment matters, and that ongoing monitoring is part of responsible care. It also gives patients practical confidence around how prescriptions work, what to expect from a consultation, how follow-up is managed, and why a regulated supply route is different from self-medicating through unregulated sources. Long-term success depends on patients feeling informed and supported, not simply processed. In a regulated area like medical cannabis, education is not a marketing exercise. It is part of the care model.

What have you learned about scaling a regulated healthcare business in the UK?
Scaling a regulated healthcare business in the UK has reinforced that trust has to be built into the operating model from day one. You cannot separate growth from governance, because the clinical model, pharmacy infrastructure, compliance standards, data systems, patient support and communications all have to scale together. That is particularly true in medical cannabis, where the policy environment allows access, but public understanding and clinical acceptance are still catching up. The opportunity is not simply to meet demand; it is to build the infrastructure that turns a regulated treatment area into a safe, consistent and credible patient experience. For Mamedica, that means combining specialist prescribing, appropriate patient selection, secure dispensing, robust documentation and ongoing clinical oversight with a digital pathway that makes access clearer for patients. Growth only works if patients, clinicians, regulators and the wider healthcare system can trust the model. In a misunderstood and highly regulated market, that trust is built through discipline, transparency and patient outcomes, not speed alone.

What’s the biggest misconception founders have when building in regulated healthcare markets?
One of the biggest misconceptions is that regulation is simply a hurdle to get through. In healthcare, regulation is part of the product because patients are trusting you with their health, their data, their safety and often a condition that has already made life difficult. Founders can also overestimate demand and underestimate trust. In medical cannabis, demand is clearly there, but demand alone does not build a healthcare company. The harder part is creating a service that patients, clinicians and regulators can believe in at scale. The best healthcare innovation does not work around compliance; it makes compliance easier for the patient to experience. Clear onboarding, responsible prescribing, secure documentation, better follow-up and useful patient data are not back-office details. They are what make access safe, scalable and sustainable.