Dr Rachael Grimaldi is a senior anaesthetic registrar at Great Ormond Street Hospital and co-founder/CEO of CardMedic, a digital health startup aimed at reducing health inequalities from communication barriers in healthcare.
The idea for CardMedic came to Rachael during the COVID-19 pandemic when she read about a patient terrified because they couldn’t understand clinicians through PPE. Realising the longstanding issue of communication gaps preventing equitable care, especially for the 35% of people with additional needs like language barriers or disabilities, Rachael designed CardMedic’s library of digital flashcards to guide conversations in multiple formats like languages and sign language.
Through her NHS clinical experience, Rachael witnessed first-hand how poor communication blocks patients from understanding their care and making informed decisions, forcing unethical practices like using unofficial translators. CardMedic empowers patients and clinicians to communicate effectively, improving patient safety, experience and reducing inequalities.
Supported by programmes like the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme and KSS AHSN, Rachael has grown CardMedic from a 72-hour launch concept to a multi-award-winning app used by over 50,000 people across 120 countries. Her goal is to integrate CardMedic widely across the NHS to systematically tackle communication barriers and inequalities in care access.
