NZ hospital system tipped for UK use

By PETER GRIFFIN

Health software developed in an Epsom basement could soon be organising the medical records of thousands of patients in British hospitals.

Auckland-based clinical software developer Plato CIS is on the verge of securing £1 million ($NZ3.6 million) in funding from an unnamed venture capital partner in Britain.

Plato develops clinical auditing software that stores operating notes and patient records for several medical specialties, including orthopaedic, maternity and general medicine.

Plato's clinical audit systems are used in more than 11 of New Zealand's 23 hospitals and the company has made solid progress in Britain.

The software forms the front-end of database applications such as SQL Server and Oracle. Software licences are issued to British hospitals at £50,000 for each medical specialty.

The company's orthopaedic software is used in the Royal Devon Hospital in Exeter, and a hospital in the north that already uses Plato's clinical governance software is looking at its maternity applications.

Paul Ryan, chief executive of Walker Wireless and a private investor in Plato, said working with the highly regulated British National Health System (NHS) had been "interesting."

But he said Plato's venture capital partner had strong contacts within the NHS, which would give the company an important foothold.

Plato aims to capture 10 per cent of the £700 million British market within 18 months and will use its British base to pursue business in Europe - France and Germany in particular. A foray into the United States market, where Plato holds patents for its software, also is on the cards.

"Competition in this area is actually pretty weak, there are a couple of start-ups doing similar things but nothing major," Mr Ryan said.

"There's a growing emphasis on this type of thing in Britain as the Government has mandated that electronic patient records be online by 2005."

Plato directors John Ryan (Paul's brother) and Katherine Sowden, have transferred to offices in Devon to oversee expansion plans in Britain.

The venture capital funding will be used to recruit up to 15 staff in the next three months and make some small acquisitions with a view to increasing Plato's customer base.

The company employs five people in New Zealand, solely in software developing, and plans to maintain its local base.