Healthtech firm Staffscanner aims to revolutionise the health and social care sector as it expands following Scottish Enterprise support

The firm has developed an innovative platform and recruitment solution for care homes and health boards and will use a grant of £960,000 from Scottish Enterprise towards a £5million project to develop its technology and add 80 new jobs to the firm taking its team from 40 to 120 employees.

Staffscanner provides a tool accessed online or via an app for both care providers and care workers to use where employees can control their work pattern and book shifts and employers can quickly assess skills and book staff.

There are over 40,000 healthcare professionals and more than 1,000 care services on the Staffscanner platform. The company has ambitious plans for 2024 that include expansion within the Scottish and English care home market and continued support to UK local authorities and the NHS.

Scottish Enterprise managing director of business growth Rhona Allison said: “The healthtech solution Staffscanner provides to the dual challenges of an aging population and fluctuating health and social care recruitment is truly innovative.

“It’s fantastic to see the company add 80 highly skilled roles to the team in Glasgow and builds on the success story of high growth tech companies capitalising on talent and expanding in Scotland.

“Scottish Enterprise’s new focus on driving economic transformation will enable businesses, like Staffscanner, to deliver high value jobs, boost their levels of innovation, productivity and global growth opportunities to create wealth for Scotland’s economy.”

Innovation Minister Richard Lochhead said: “This platform is a perfect example of providing technological solutions to real-life challenges – in this case these solutions will support our health sector.

“Innovation and entrepreneurship are integral to our approach for growing Scotland’s economy. The National Innovation Strategy sets out our vision for becoming one of the most innovative small nations in the world over the next decade through investment, research, and improved productivity. Health and Life Sciences is a priority area and we are committed to working with industry to become world leading.

“We are already supporting start-ups through our £42 million investment in Techscalers across the country.”

Staffscanner’s co-founder Reza Najafian was inspired to start the business by his mother Alice, who was a nurse as well as from his own experience working in a care home over many years.

Reza also owns Silverburn Care Home in Glasgow and created Staffscanner in 2017 having experienced first-hand the challenges of recruiting valuable staff and combined passion for the provision of high-quality health care.

Reza said: “Our digital platform is revolutionising the care sector as it helps solve traditional challenges that care providers have experienced as well as improving transparency and efficiency to ultimately provide more time for what’s important – the provision of high-quality care for vulnerable people.

“We have exciting plans this year as we look to grow in key markets across the public and private sector in the UK as well as internationally with a service that we feel puts the care back into care management.

“A key factor in our growth has been the ability to access support from Scottish Enterprise as we further develop our business and aim to enter new markets in healthcare.”