The Healthtech Podcast #426 Outpatient care, reimagined from the ground up: Sam Winward from Pastel Health
Dec 10, 2025
Sam Winward, co-founder and CEO of Pastel Health, is revolutionizing chronic pain care in the NHS. With a rich background in medicine and healthtech, he explains how Pastel merges brick-and-mortar and remote services for better patient experiences. Delving into the challenges of unit economics with previous roles at Babylon, he shares insights on value-based care and the importance of clinician fulfillment. Sam highlights the urgent need for efficient care packages, driven by AI, to enhance service quality while ensuring quick access and empowerment for patients.
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Digital Care Reaches High-Need Patients
- Digital weight-management programs can reach high-need, deprived patients and materially reduce sick days.
- Evidence-driven partnerships with the NHS enabled Oviva to scale access for patients with severe obesity.
Co-Founders From Medical School To Startup
- Sam and co-founder Kush Patel met at medical school and worked together at Babylon before founding Pastel Health.
- They share complementary roles: Sam on commercial/strategy and Kush on product, operations and running the service.
Match Then Disrupt The NHS Way
- Start outpatient transformation by mirroring existing NHS pathways before introducing disruption.
- Use hybrid (brick-and-mortar + remote) clinics to combine accessibility with procedural capability.