Stroke Awareness Month
This Stroke Awareness Month, we’re highlighting a deeply personal journey that inspired innovation in post-stroke care.
Pogo Digital Healthcare was founded after our CEO, Jack Francis, experienced first-hand the challenges of stroke recovery through his father, Neil. When Jack was just 12 years old, Neil suffered a stroke. Like many patients, Neil was handed a generic booklet of information by the NHS — well-intentioned but overwhelming, and crucially, not tailored to his needs. The lack of personalised, timely support made navigating recovery difficult and isolating.
That moment planted the seed for what would become Tailored Talks – a digital platform that delivers personalised, accessible content to people recovering from long-term conditions, starting with stroke.
Today, during Stroke Awareness Month, we’re proud to shine a light on Tailored Talks: Life After Stroke – our co-designed support tool that provides targeted digital ‘talks’ (bite-sized slideshow content) focused on stroke recovery, lifestyle changes, emotional wellbeing, relationships, and more. It also integrates with helplines for further support, includes accessibility features like read-aloud and translation, and offers clinicians an analytics dashboard to help refine and improve care.
"Being a stroke survivor, I know how important customised and relevant information is to help with the recovery journey both for the individual and the family. Tailored Talks provides this and it is such crucial and important resource’’ - Neil Francis
We're currently in the evaluation phase of the Life After Stroke project, following a pilot with NHS partners. Initial feedback has been encouraging, and we’re working closely with stroke survivors, healthcare professionals, and charities to ensure that the platform meets the real needs of patients and families. Early patient feedback includes:
“I’ve downloaded ten talks already, all have been useful to understand my symptoms (like anxiety and fatigue)”
“I found the information reassuring, I have been feeling so tired you know, to know that this is common was helpful”
Stroke recovery doesn't end when a patient leaves the hospital – and neither should support. This Stroke Awareness Month, we reaffirm our commitment to making stroke information personal, timely, and empowering.