UK HEALTH-TECH PLATFORM FLORENCE ANNOUNCES FURTHER GROWTH WITH EXPANSION INTO CANADA
TORONTO , Feb. 21, 2023 /CNW/ - Florence, one of the UK's fastest-growing healthcare technology companies, has today announced its expansion into the Canadian market.
After experiencing standout growth year over year in the UK since 2017 and a $35 million Series B funding round in 2022, the healthcare technology company plans to continue its mission to solve the global healthcare staffing crisis by launching in Canada. The Florence app empowers nurses and other healthcare professionals to find flexible, fair, and transparent work options, and enables long-term care homes, hospitals, and other organizations to sustainably fill open shifts in their schedule with highly skilled and vetted healthcare workers. The announcement follows on from the successful expansion in France last year.
The growing demand for care in Canada continues to outpace the supply of health workers, placing significant pressures on the sustainability of the health system. Nurses are leaving the profession in record numbers, due to worsening burnout conditions, heavy workloads, and lack of meaningful resources, with the COVID-19 pandemic further accelerating these challenges. Florence addresses this systemic strain, by uplifting health professionals with a way to take control of their work conditions while directly improving the state of healthcare for the regions in which they operate.
To lead the Canadian business, Florence has appointed Shelly-Ann Rampersad as the Managing Director. She has over a decade of experience in the healthcare sector and was formerly the Vice President of Clinical Operations at Toronto-based technology start-up, Maple. Shelly-Ann spent the past five years building and leading the company's clinical operations and public sector team, including overseeing the scaling of its provider network and care delivery model to support the unprecedented demand for virtual care during the pandemic. Today, Maple has Canada's largest online provider network, including physicians, nurse practitioners, and allied health professionals, serving nearly 4 million Canadians. Prior to Maple, Shelly-Ann worked as a healthcare strategy consultant with KPMG, focused on health system transformation. Notably, in that time, Shelly-Ann supported The Government of The Bahamas with the design and launch of its landmark National Health Insurance program, which provides primary healthcare services to over 390,000 Bahamians.
Shelly-Ann Rampersad, Canadian Managing Director, said: "Health human resourcing is one of the largest issues facing the Canadian healthcare system today. I'm thrilled to be joining the team at Florence to tackle this challenge, and I look forward to working alongside nurses, health workers, and healthcare organizations to create a more sustainable path forward."
Florence now serves more than a quarter of social care in the UK, working with over 90,000 nurses and healthcare workers, and over 2,000 organizations in both public and private sectors. The free app includes a suite of workforce management tools for healthcare facilities, including the ability to fill schedule openings easily and efficiently with existing staff before posting shifts to the Florence marketplace. The company has set out to challenge the traditional agency staffing model by giving administrators the freedom and control to set their own rates when temporary staffing needs arise.
Dr. Charles Armitage, former doctor, CEO and founder of Florence, added: "We're so excited to bring Florence to Canada under Shelly-Ann's leadership. Canada is in the middle of a significant workforce crisis and we're looking forward to supporting providers to help them use technology to build a flexible, efficient and high quality workforce."
Florence is on a mission to fix the healthcare staffing gap. The Florence app is a trusted staffing marketplace that connects vetted nurses and healthcare professionals with available shifts at local long-term care homes, hospitals, and healthcare facilities. Today, more than 90,000 health workers and 2000 organizations use Florence to alleviate staffing gaps at consistent rates. Learn more at florenceapp.com/ca.
Shelly-Ann was the former Vice President of Clinical Operations at Toronto-based technology start-up, Maple. She led the company's clinical operations including clinical strategy, care delivery operations, and worked with hospitals and health systems to implement innovative models of care. She is a former management consultant within KPMG's healthcare practice and has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management. Shelly-Ann is deeply committed to amplifying the voices of equity-deserving groups and tackling issues around accessible healthcare. She is a CivicAction DiverseCity Fellow, representing rising leaders shaping their communities, recent Arbor Award Recipient for her long-standing volunteer work with the University of Toronto, and has recently been honoured as one of WXN's Top 100 Canada's Most Powerful Women in 2022.
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