Nervecentre: Building the digital backbone of the modern NHS
Find out how Nervecentre is helping hospitals across the UK deliver safer, smarter, and more efficient care every day, as well as Paul’s journey from Fellow to Alumni.
From an early-stage innovation to one of the most widely adopted clinical platforms in the NHS, Nervecentre is redefining what hospital digital transformation looks like.
Rooted in clinical insight and built for scale, it exemplifies how UK healthtech can lead globally by combining innovation, ambition, and a relentless focus on improving care. As part of the NHS Innovation Accelerator Alumni, Nervecentre continues to set the standard for what digital healthcare can achieve: safer care, better systems, and a more connected NHS.
What is Nervecentre and what problem does it solve?
Nervecentre is transforming how hospitals operate by bringing together patient safety, clinical workflows, and operational systems into one seamless digital platform.
Used by major NHS trusts across the country, Nervecentre helps clinicians deliver safer, more efficient, and more coordinated care. From patient observations and e-prescribing to flow management and communication, it replaces fragmented systems with a single, real-time view of the hospital.
Today, Nervecentre supports tens of thousands of NHS staff every day, helping them to save time, reduce errors, and focus more on patients.
“We’re helping an enormous number of hospitals in significant ways, delivering the kind of digital transformation that makes a real difference on the frontline.”
“We’re helping an enormous number of hospitals in significant ways, delivering the kind of digital transformation that makes a real difference on the frontline.”
What was your inspiration and motivation?
When Paul founded Nervecentre in 2010, his vision was simple: to give clinicians the right information at the right time. Having seen how siloed systems and paper-based processes slowed down decision-making, he set out to build technology that truly supported the flow of care inside hospitals.
Nervecentre was designed from the ground up with clinicians in mind, making an innovation that was mobile-first, intuitive, and built around how hospitals actually work.
“The NHS is an incredibly complex system. We built Nervecentre to simplify that complexity, so clinicians can spend less time chasing data and more time caring for patients.”
Paul Volkaerts, Founder and CEO, Nervecentre Software
Why did you become a Fellow?
Joining the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) was a pivotal moment for Nervecentre. Paul was part of the programme’s first cohort, at a time when the company was still young and trying to navigate the intricacies of NHS procurement and funding.
The NIA provided two invaluable things: access to networks within NHS England and a community of peers facing the same challenges.
“The NIA gave us a way in to meet people we’d never have met otherwise and to understand how the NHS really works. But the biggest thing was camaraderie. Starting a company can be lonely, and being surrounded by others on the same journey was transformative..”
Looking ahead
Nervecentre has grown from a small start-up into one of the UK’s leading healthtech companies. Currently with 170 staff, a £20 million turnover, the plans are to double its workforce to 400 people within the next two years.
The company is now competing successfully against major international suppliers, showing that UK-based innovation can scale globally without losing its clinical focus. Paul’s ambition for the next five years is to see Nervecentre continue to grow, expand internationally, and help the NHS build a fully digital future.
“We need to stop thinking small. The NHS deserves world-class technology and UK innovators should aim to deliver it at scale. We should be thinking big, because the potential for impact is enormous.”
