Dr Thom Van Every is a UK trained medical doctor, entrepreneur and children's author. He is considered a pioneer in the UK of online medical services having launched through his website Dr Thom the first regulated online medical clinic, [1] the first home HIV testing service, [2] and in partnership with the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust the first NHS online service. [3] He appeared on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour discussing a DIY cervical smear test using a tampon. [4]
He graduated from the University of Birmingham Medical School in 1995. He is a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He also holds an MBA from London Business School. [5]
Dr Thom was purchased by pharmacy chain Lloydspharmacy in 2011. [6]
He also co-founded and acted as Medical Director for a private medical insurance provider called PatientChoice. [7] PatientChoice was purchased by Westfield Health in 2011. [8]
He was also a co-founding investor and advisor to California-based telemedicine business Lemonaid Health, which was purchased by 23AndMe in 2021. [9]
He is the author the children's picture book 'The Strictest Teacher in All of France', [10] which is also available in French. [11]
In 2014 he completed a solo swim of the English Channel in just over 14hrs. [12] He has also completed a swim from Robben Island to Cape Town, Alcatraz and the Lake Zurich 26 km marathon swim. [13] [14]
He most recently worked for ViiV Healthcare, a joint venture between GSK, Pfizer and Shionogi, focused on HIV, [15] and was previously Executive Director of ViiV's 'hive' digital innovation unit. [16] .Under his leadership the ViiV hive led the development of KLICK, an award-winning service redesign for people living with HIV at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, now used by over five thousand patients [17] ,and Germany's first online and postal HIV and sexually transmitted disease testing service. [18] He also sat on the Advisory Board of Ieso Digital Health, a provider of internet-enabled CBT [19] and HomeTouch, an elderly care digital service. [20] He is also an investor in PatientsKnowBest. [21]
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive. It oversees the English National Health Service (NHS). The department is led by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care with three ministers of state and three parliamentary under-secretaries of state.
Philip James Hammond is a British physician, broadcaster, comedian and commentator on health issues in the United Kingdom. He is best known for his humorous commentary on the National Health Service. He first came into the public spotlight writing a column for The Independent newspaper, where he wrote with a strong pro-patient rights line and as Private Eye's medical correspondent "MD".
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a British public sector healthcare provider located in Cambridge, England. It was established on 4 November 1992 as Addenbrooke's National Health Service Trust, and authorised as an NHS foundation trust under its current name on 1 July 2004.
Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust operated Salford Royal Hospital in Greater Manchester until 2017. Its chief executive is Dr Owen Williams.
Health and Social Care (HSC) is the publicly funded healthcare system in Northern Ireland. Although having been created separately to the National Health Service (NHS), it is nonetheless considered a part of the overall national health service in the United Kingdom. The Northern Ireland Executive through its Department of Health is responsible for its funding, while the Public Health Agency is the executive agency responsible for the provision of public health and social care services across Northern Ireland. It is free of charge to all citizens of Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
LloydsPharmacy was the trading name of Lloyds Pharmacy Ltd, a British pharmacy company, which went into liquidation in January 2024 with debts of £293m. It had around 17,000 staff and dispensed over 150 million prescription items annually. It was formerly owned by the Aurelius Group and previously the American McKesson Corporation.
HIV/AIDS was first diagnosed in 1981. As of year-end 2018, 160,493 people have been diagnosed with HIV in the United Kingdom and an estimated 7,500 people are living undiagnosed with HIV. New diagnoses are highest in gay/bisexual men, with an estimated 51% of new diagnosis reporting male same-sex sexual activity as the probable route of infection. Between 2009 and 2018 there was a 32% reduction in new HIV diagnosis, attributed by Public Health England (PHE) to better surveillance and education. PHE has described an "outbreak" in Glasgow amongst people who inject drugs, and has campaigns targeting men who have sex with men in London and other major cities. London was the first city in the world to reach the World Health Organization target for HIV, set at 90% of those with HIV diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed on HAART and 90% of those on HAART undetectable. The UK as a whole later achieved the same target. Under the Equality Act 2010, it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on their HIV status in the UK.
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom provide emergency care to people with acute illness or injury and are predominantly provided free at the point of use by the four National Health Services (NHS) of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is only free to UK residents and a charge may be made to those not entitled to free NHS care.
Healthcare in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each having their own systems of publicly funded healthcare, funded by and accountable to separate governments and parliaments, together with smaller private sector and voluntary provision. As a result of each country having different policies and priorities, a variety of differences have developed between these systems since devolution.
23andMe Holding Co. is a publicly traded personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva sample that is laboratory analysed, using single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping, to generate reports relating to the customer's ancestry and genetic predispositions to health-related topics. The company's name is derived from the 23 pairs of chromosomes in a diploid human cell.
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is an NHS trust based in London, England. It is one of the largest NHS trusts in England and together with Imperial College London forms an academic health science centre.
An outpatient department or outpatient clinic is the part of a hospital designed for the treatment of outpatients, people with health problems who visit the hospital for diagnosis or treatment, but do not at this time require a bed or to be admitted for overnight care. Modern outpatient departments offer a wide range of treatment services, diagnostic tests and minor surgical procedures.
Avert is an international charity that uses digital communications to increase health literacy on HIV and sexual health, among those most affected in areas of greatest need, in order to reduce new infections and improve health and well-being.
Julian (Jules) Christopher Paul Eden is an author, journalist, businessman and former doctor with specialisms in remote medicine and dive medicine. He was the founder of the UK's first online medical clinic, e-Med in 2000.
Tim Kelsey is an English-Australian business executive. He is CEO of Beamtree,, an Australian healthcare company (ASX:BMT) based in Sydney, Australia. He started in the role in December 2020.
111 is a free-to-call single non-emergency number medical helpline operating in England, Scotland and Wales. The 111 phone service has replaced the various non-geographic 0845 rate numbers and is part of each country's National Health Service: in England the service is known as NHS 111; in Scotland, NHS 24; and in Wales, NHS111 Wales.
e-med is an online medical site based in the UK, staffed and owned by doctors. It is notable for being the first web portal to offer consultation, diagnosis, referral and prescription services to remote patients via email and Skype video conferencing, and for a controversial General Medical Council case.
DrThom is a UK-based commercial online doctor service, also operating in Ireland and Australia. It is 100% owned by LloydsPharmacy, which is in turn owned by a leading international wholesale and retail company McKesson Europe.
The National Health Action Party (NHA) is a political party in the United Kingdom.
Greg Owen is a UK-born activist who started a website to make generic pre-exposure prophylaxis medication (PrEP) accessible to prevent HIV infection.