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NON-EXECUTIVE TEAM
Phil Sissons - Non-Executive Director
Over 30 years in the IT Services industry, Phil worked with many different client sectors including manufacturing, finance, petrochemicals and healthcare in the UK, Europe and the Far East. Phil’s grounding in IT and IS industry came from fourteen years with Comshare after graduating from Bradford University as a Computer Scientist in the early 70’s. After five years leading Oracle Corporation’s Healthcare Division, in 1994 Phil moved to SMS United Kingdom to sharpen his focus on Healthcare information systems. As SMS United Kingdom’s MD, Phil continued the delivery of clinical and administrative systems for the Health Service in the UK, through acquisitions and sales successes. At both Oracle and SMS, significant revenue growth was achieved through organic and acquisitive growth.
Since 1989, Phil has strongly supported the Intellect UK trade association, particularly in the Healthcare Interest Group. For the years of 1995/96 and 1999/2001, Phil held the role of Chairman of the Healthcare group and is currently on the Intellect UK Board and the Health Council. Phil represented the Health Computing industry on many issues (including standards, procurement, and PFI) with the Health Service. Leaving SMS in 1998, Phil worked with a number of NHS Organisations in procuring software and services. In recent projects, Phil project managed the NHS Email and Directory procurement and the NHSnet replacement procurement. From December 2002 to April 2004, Richard Granger chose Phil to represent the National Programme for NHS IT to Industry and vice versa. Phil joined iPLATO as a non-executive director in January 2006.
HISTORY
iPLATO is a privately owned limited company founded in London in the autumn of 1999. In 2003, the company was awarded a SMART Feasibility Grant by the Department of Trade & Industry to study the feasibility for national implementation of a system to remind outpatients about scheduled appointments, using text messaging technology. This became the first step on the road to realising the true potential of wireless technology in healthcare.
The European Venture Contest, organised by the European Commission, recognised iPLATO as one of the top ten early stage technology ventures ready to “reshape their industry and to conquer the global market” and featured on the Red Herring Europe Top 200 of companies to watch in 2006.
Over the last five years, iPLATO has invested substantial resources towards overcoming the barriers to entry of the healthcare market and now provides successful healthcare solutions to NHS organisations throughout the United Kingdom - building a promising business around its flagship service ‘Patient Care Messaging’.
MISSION
iPLATO Healthcare uses mobile technology to help healthcare providers, professionals and payers improve the health of patients and populations. Provided in partnership with leading healthcare software suppliers, our solutions improve patient access to healthcare, enable population-wide, personalised mobile health promotion campaigns and support people with long term conditions.
STOP SMOKING AWARENESS SERVICE
The iPLATO Stop Smoking Awareness Service enables ‘quitters’ to request Smoking Cessation Support and advice by sending a text message to a specific ‘Stop Smoking Service’ number found on marketing material (such as a leaflet, a poster, a beer mat etc…) in the community (Gyms, GP Surgeries, Railway Stations etc.).
After sending the ‘trigger’ text to the Stop Smoking number on the printed marketing material, the ‘quitter’ receives by return text a message saying: ‘Thanks for taking this opportunity to get free Stop Smoking support. Please await a call from an advisor to discuss how we can help you in your quit attempt’
On receipt of the ‘trigger’ text from the ‘quitter‘ (arriving as an email to a predetermined Stop Smoking Service email address), the quitter is called by a Stop Smoking Advisor in order to provide Smoking Cessation support and advice and/or make an appointment. [Contact Us]
Remember ur GP appt, GP text messaging service
Newham residents are to benefit from receiving GP appointment reminders and health information on their mobiles phones via text message. Newham Primary Care Trust (PCT) has funded 47 GP surgeries to launch and operate iPLATO Patient Care Messaging. This new service has already been rolled out in some GP practices in Newham.
PATIENT CARE MESSAGING FOR GP SURGERIES - SYSTEM FEATURES
Reply texts from patients are automatically directed as emails to a predefined email address.
Patient Care Messaging enables the creation and sending of manual text messages to individuals and/or groups of patients for targeted health promotion campaigns (excellent for QOF).
Automated Appointment Reminders
Automated appoint reminders can be sent to patients by text message at a pre-defined time before the surgery visit, significantly reducing the number of missed appointments.
National Read Code Functionality
The unique National Read Code functionality enables the Patient Medical Record to be automatically updated with the relevant Read Code, indicating a text message has been sent. In addition, a relevant ‘campaign specific’ Read Code can be attached to the outgoing message and the Patient Medical Record updated accordingly.
N3 Connection (NHSnet Hosting)
Patient Care Messaging is a secure solution and the only text messaging service to integrate to all major GP administration systems and also to be hosted within NHSnet.
Patient Care Messaging fully integrates to all major GP Administration systems (including EMIS PCS & LV, INPS Vision, iSOFT).
Reporting Module Functionality
- User / administrator access to real time gateway status with visual status indicators.
- Advanced reporting wizard for generating customisable reports on: messages sent, messages received, pending, undelivered, invalid or failed numbers.
- Full messaging history with reports.
- All reports can be printed or exported into downloadable formats.
Automated voice messages can be sent to a patient’s mobile phone, stating who the call comes from and also who the call is for, in case the phone is shared between people within a household. Patients can be asked to respond to questions during the call, via keystroke on their telephone keypad. Voice messaging should be viewed as a natural extension of the iPLATO texting service, providing an additional channel of communication.
PATIENT CARE MESSAGING FOR PHARMACIES - SYSTEM FEATURES
Reply texts from patients are automatically directed as emails to a predefined email address.
N3 Connection (NHSnet Hosting)
Patient Care Messaging is a secure solution and the only text messaging service to integrate to all major GP administration systems and also to be hosted within NHSnet.
Reporting module functionality
- User / administrator access to real time gateway status with visual status indicators.
- Advanced reporting wizard for generating customisable reports on: messages sent, messages received, pending, undelivered, invalid or failed numbers.
- Full messaging history with reports.
- All reports can be printed or exported into downloadable formats.
Automated voice messages can be sent to a patient’s mobile phone, stating who the call comes from and also who the call is for, in case the phone is shared between people within a household. Patients can be asked to respond to questions during the call, via keystroke on their telephone keypad. Voice messaging should be viewed as a natural extension of the iPLATO texting service, providing an additional channel of communication.
iPLATO IN THE MEDIA
Recent ’iPLATO’ media coverage:
- London’s LBC Radio speaks to iPLATO MD, Tobias Alpsten about the recent roll-out of Patient Care Messaging in Ealing, West London
- e-Health Insider : Ealing PCT uses text message technology
- Medical News Today reviews Ealing PCT’s text messaging roll-out to 22 GP surgeries
- IT Pro analyses Ealing PCT’s decison to implement text messaging
- Silicon.com “Ealing PCT chooses iPLATO and the Orange network as text messaging partners”
- e-Health Insider looks at the INPS and iPLATO Partnership
- Lewisham PCT chooses iPLATO for SMS reminders
- BBC Essex: Interview with Dr Paul Husselbee, Nov 7, 2005
- NHS Magazine: ‘…cut missed appointments and also promote public health’
- TimesOnline: ‘Bleeping sickness’
- HES Magazine: ‘Phone messaging to cut missed appointments’
- PublicTechnology: ‘NHS Mental Health Trust improves service with Patient Care Messaging’
- PublicTechnology: ‘Patient Care Messaging system cuts missed appointments for Islington NHS PCT’
- BJHC: ‘Patient no-shows cut by automatic messaging system’
- e-Health Insider: ‘SMS reminds patients of upcoming appointments’
- SMS appointment reminders get language boost
M-SITE
Reliable, Robust Technology The M-Site is hosted on a secure web server provided by iPLATO. The iPLATO M-Site does not require any additional hard or software for the participating surgery, pharmacy or dentist. The m-site will not contain any confidential patient information. Set-up and management of the M-Site requires PC access to the internet for the participating surgery, pharmacy or dentist.
Easy to set-up - Template Driven Content
M-Site contains healthcare provider information:
- Healthcare Providers Contact Details
- Telephone Numbers, website addresses and relevant contact email addresses
- Maps relevant to the location which can be scrolled and zoomed into
- Details about out of hours services
- Ability to cancel appointment and order repeat prescriptions directly on the phone (feature under development )
Patients can access the M-Site by…
- Typing in the address into their mobile phone browser, e.g. wap.iplato.net/val
- Opening the m-site via a link contained in the body of an SMS reminder e.g.
“From the Vale Medical Centre: Reminder of your appt on 06 Nov at 10:50am with Dr Jones. Reply ONLY to cancel. For info wap.iplato.net/val”
- The M-Site can be accessed via a WAP push, triggered through an assigned gateway number.
These numbers can be printed on collateral e.g. “Text the word ‘val’ to 078 0000 1265 and we will send you instructions for accessing further surgery details.”
For further information regarding iPLATO M- Site, contact iPLATO on the details below:
1 Hammersmith Grove
London
W6 0NB
Tel. 020 3178 4680
PATIENT CARE MESSAGING
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iPLATO Patient Care Messaging is a web based text messaging system hosted within NHSnet, that integrates to all major GP administration systems, allowing fully automated appointment reminders and targeted group messaging for health promotion.Begun as a means of reducing DNA rates within the NHS, Patient Care Messaging has since evolved into a highly effective form of wider patient communication, supporting a range of GP/PCT initiatives including Smoking Cessation, Childhood Immunisation, Screening, Obesity and Flu-Jab. Patient Care Messaging offers GP surgeries and PCTs the ability to contact patients in a highly cost effective and immediate way, by sending patients SMS (text) messages to their mobile phone.Patient Care Messaging allows GP surgeries to contact large groups of patients when running targeted health campaigns or sending appointment reminders. Patients can respond by text if they wish, with replies being automatically forwarded to a pre-assigned email address.Compared to traditional forms of communication, text messaging is extremely personalised and allows GP surgeries to contact hundreds of patients within minutes. Highlights
*Not applicable for Patient Care Messaging for Pharmacies The Benefits
Who You Can Expect to Reach
Messaging Applications
Interested? For evidence based reports/case studies on the wide range of health initiatives currently being supported by iPLATO Patient Care Messaging please email or call us on the details below: One Lyric Square London W6 0NB Tel. 020 3178 4680 |
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