Implementing data protection by design with a health startup

BACKGROUND

Founded by Dr Elizabeth McNaught and Nick Pollard, Family Mental Wealth's goal is to help families build their mental health and wellbeing, reducing the need for clinical interventions.

In collaboration with King’s College London, they secured feasibility funding for a concept app from the UK’s Digital Health Catalyst Fund. Family Mental Wealth wanted to ensure that compliance, data protection and privacy were built into the app from the start, and to make sure risks were identified and mitigated prior to any technical build.

"Corrick Wales have provided very valuable knowledge, insight and rigour as we have together considered the complex data protection issues for this medical device."

Nick Pollard, Executive Chairman, Family Mental Wealth

WHAT WE DID

Processing mental health and children’s data in a family context equates to high risks for data protection and privacy. Processing such data in a mobile app setting potentially adds further risks.

From May 2020 updated EU standards in medical device means more mobile health apps will need to examine how they comply.

We worked closely with the founders and their CTO to understand the relevant issues, identify possible solutions, and adapt their plans and technical requirements accordingly. This included participating in a workshop with clinicians, researchers and families, as well as delivering tailored training and a running a Data Protection Impact Assessment.

THE OUTCOME

With privacy and data protection now incorporated into their plans, Family Mental Wealth is seeking to commercialise the first module of their offering, as well as working on subsequent modules. Building on this foundation, Family Mental Wealth hope to radically transform mental health provision for children and families.