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SA tech company secures major contract with Britain’s National Health Services
Signapps, a South African health technology company Healthcent has won a prestigious contract with Britain’s National Health Services (NHS).
In terms of the contract, Signapps will provide its software as a service communication platform for the management of clinical communication to NHS Trusts.
Signapps has secured a contract with Britain’s National Health Services (NHS).
Andrew Davies, CEO of Signapps comments on securing the major contract with NHS.
“The contract with the NHS is a major coup for us, as a South African company, proving that our product engineering teams can create a product to compete with the very best internationally.”
Davies explains that as most of the development involved in fulfilling the NHS contract will be done locally, the new contract will provide employment opportunities. These opportunities will cater specifically to those with software engineering and development skills.
According to Davies, because most of the development involved in fulfilling the NHS contract will be done locally, the contract will provide work opportunities for those with software engineering and development skills.
NHS Trusts will be able to procure these services offered by Signapps, through a framework agreement that has a list value of £3- million and will run for a period of two years with a potential extension for 12 months.
The tender for the contract was published on the 19th of June and revealed the Covid-19 pandemic has “accelerated the need to urgently deliver on Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s long-standing plan to phase out pagers by the end of 2021.”
This target date has been brought forward significantly because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. The urgency is underlined by the fact that the tender was awarded to Signapps, within a mere six-weeks of being published.
Signapps
Launching in 2017, the Signapps™ messaging platform has a proven local track record as it has been implemented in numerous areas, including; the Chris Hani Baragwanath Paediatric Burns Unit, stroke units within the Life Hospital group, sub-acute care for the Intercare Group, managed care of palliative patients (Alignd).
Recently, Signapps has taken on a pro-bono basis to provide state hospitals with their services to ensure that healthcare workers are safe in the Covid-19 environment.
International studies have revealed that as much as 70% of all preventable mishaps in healthcare happen as a result of miscommunication or no communication.
Using Signapps, clinical updates on patients can be communicated and shared confidentially, enabling appropriate responses by practitioners in real-time as well as facilitating more generalised communication relating to logistical and administrative matters between teams.
Covid-19
The advantage of Signapps™, particularly in the treatment of patients with Covid-19, is that only essential workers need to be physically present with the patient, allowing other members of the care team to collaborate in real-time remotely. This reduces the risk of unnecessary exposure to healthcare workers providing input to cases, whilst allowing them to efficiently manage a far greater number than otherwise possible without the technology.
“There was an excellent fit between the requirements of the NHS tender and the Signapps™ messaging platform including GDPR compliant platform features and points of integration to NHS active directory and Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. Said features and integrations enable staff to share clinical information quickly and securely with the minimum of friction,” Davies says.
Davies adds that it is a prestigious achievement for the local tech company.
“The award shows that our platform, already proven to be effective in South Africa, can stand up to international scrutiny and be selected for use in one of the world’s biggest national health systems. I am proud of everyone, both inside and outside our company, who has played a role in developing Signapps™ to this point.”
