King’s College London, one of the UK’s leading research universities, has featured Find Care Compare founder Roxanne Stevenson-Brown in its Start-up Founders series, highlighting the growing role of health technology in improving navigation across the UK healthcare system.
The feature explored the inspiration behind Find Care Compare — and the widening information gap in UK healthcare that led to its creation.
Beyond marking a milestone for the company, the interview shines a light on a deeper systemic issue: access to healthcare in the UK increasingly depends on access to information.
Information as a Social Determinant of Health in the UK
Having worked within the NHS for several years, Roxanne Stevenson-Brown observed that many patients struggled not because services did not exist — but because they could not find them.
Across the UK healthcare system, health inequalities are widening. While funding pressures are frequently discussed, the role of information asymmetry is less visible but equally significant.
Patients often face:
- Limited visibility of available NHS and private services
- NHS waiting times that vary significantly between providers
- Unclear referral pathways and eligibility criteria
- Fragmented systems where private and NHS services operate in parallel without transparency
The result can resemble a two-tier system — not purely based on clinical need, but on who has the knowledge, time, and confidence to navigate complex systems.
For patients without that advantage, consequences may include delayed diagnoses, untreated conditions, and preventable deterioration.
Why Find Care Compare Was Built
Find Care Compare was created to become the UK’s front door to healthcare — a neutral healthcare comparison platform designed to make NHS and private services more legible.
The platform enables patients to:
- Compare NHS and private healthcare services
- Filter by waiting time, price, distance, and language
- Understand referral pathways and eligibility
- Navigate the UK healthcare system with greater clarity
The company does not promote one provider over another. Instead, it focuses on transparency — giving patients structured, comparable information so they can make informed decisions about their own care.
As digital health and healthtech startups continue to grow across the UK, improving healthcare navigation has emerged as a critical systems challenge.
From NHS Experience to MVP Launch
Shortly after joining the King’s College London Start-up Accelerator, Find Care Compare launched its first minimum viable product (MVP), focused on mental health services in London.
At the time of launch:
- Over 2 million patients were on NHS mental health waiting lists
- Some treatment pathways extended up to three years
The early response from patients, clinicians, and health system leaders reinforced a consistent insight: the issue was not solely a lack of services, but a lack of visibility and structured comparison.
Improving clarity within the UK healthcare system is not simply a convenience issue — it is infrastructure.
Healthcare Inequality as a Systems Design Challenge
Healthcare access in the UK is often framed as a funding problem. However, it is increasingly also a navigation problem.
When waiting times vary significantly between providers, when referral rules are opaque, and when eligibility criteria are poorly explained, patients without insider knowledge are disproportionately affected.
Information clarity is not a “nice-to-have”. It is a determinant of whether patients access care at all.
Find Care Compare exists on the belief that navigating healthcare should not require insider knowledge. The system should be understandable and accessible to everyone.
Read the Full Feature
The full interview with Roxanne Stevenson-Brown is available via the King’s College London Entrepreneurship Institute.
By Find Care Compare
Building the front door to healthcare