UK - iPLATO receives first round funding from The Capital Fund

iPLATO’s flagship product -Patient Care Messaging - uses mobile phone technologies to enable GP surgeries and hospitals to communicate by text message with their patients.

Operational in 15 NHS Trusts today, including dozens of GP surgeries and hospitals across London, Patient Care Messaging enables healthcare staff to set up automatic text reminders of scheduled appointments. The system also offers sophisticated tools so that staff can design and run text campaigns encouraging patients to attend specific clinics for flu jabs or other vaccinations, and participate in health programmes in areas such as smoking cessation, screening services and long term conditions such as asthma and diabetes.

iPLATO’s service has been proven to reduce patient no-shows by up to 40% which translates to a yearly saving opportunity in excess of £500,000 for the average Primary Care Trust. Patients have rapidly taken to the service as it offers timely, relevant, personalised and discreet reminders and content. The service also reaches out to the young, minorities and the socially disadvantaged as mobile text messaging is sometimes the only channel available for communicating with large patient groups that often do not respond to letters or phone calls. Text replies from patients are converted into emails which are automatically directed to the relevant doctor or nurse.

As a result of the investment, Phil Sissons, former Industry Liaison at the National Programme for IT, joins iPLATO as a non-executive director.

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• UK / Ireland
• Healthcare