Features | The Patient-Controlled Revolution: Why Patients Know Best Is Disrupting Global Health Records

What happens when a physician, a programmer, and a patient realize that every major tech company is "doing it wrong" when it comes to healthcare data? You get Patients Know Best (PKB). On the Beyond the Boardroom podcast, host podcaster, YouTuber, speaker, and media commentator Aleksandra King unpacks the compelling story of the company that pioneered the world’s first patient-controlled Personal Health Record (PHR)

The Founding Thesis: Fixing a Broken System

The foundational idea for PKB was solidified in 2007. Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli was writing a book on sharing medical records for hospital CIOs when he interviewed the CTOs of Microsoft and Google—both launching their own PHR platforms. Despite their scale, Dr. Al-Ubaydli, viewing the problem through the lens of a patient with a rare immune disorder, saw fundamental flaws. "The second thing I concluded was everyone was doing it wrong. Including Microsoft and Google... As a patient, I really want this problem fixed."

The company's core mission is simple yet revolutionary: to give every patient complete control and ownership of their medical data, making them equal partners in their own care. This principle, born from the founder's own journey to independence through self-management, sets PKB apart as a truly patient-centric system.

A Social Enterprise with Global Impact

Patients Know Best operates as a Social Enterprise and Certified B Corporation, legally mandated to balance profit with social purpose. This structure supports their ambitious goal to scale change:

• The Product: PKB provides a secure platform that integrates data from hospitals, GP systems, and patient contributions, offering a consolidated view of appointments, test results, care plans, and more.

• The Scale: PKB is the leading supplier of PHRs in the UK and Europe's largest personal health record platform.

• NHS Integration: It was the first personal health record to be fully integrated into the NHS App, vastly expanding its reach across the National Health Service in the UK.

• Compliance: The platform adheres to the highest global standards, including NHS, GDPR, and HIPAA.

• PKB proves that highly technical, market-leading solutions can be built on ethical, patient-first foundations. They demonstrate that true innovation happens when you start with the person, not the technology.

Interested? Watch the full video now on the Aleksandra King Youtube channel or discover more about the interview Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli.