Linda Davidson
On the face of it, Madonna and health IT specialists, Healthy Software, don’t have much in common: but a closer look reveals that they are both masters of that most trendy art of reinvention.
While reinvention may be the norm for pop icons, it has always been seen as a difficult feat for a business to pull off.
Nevertheless, Healthy Software has managed to join the select band of companies that looked at the National Programme for IT, decided it didn’t offer much for them – in the short term at least – and embarked on a successful refocusing of the business.
As a GP system supplier with a small, but growing following, the company found itself battling for GP clients in England who wanted to hang onto its systems and outside the magic circle of suppliers with local service provider contracts.
More recent developments have brought the company back into the frame of GP system suppliers covered by the new agreement on system choice. However, sitting still for years, awaiting last month’s announcement, did not seem to be a sensible option.
Adapting to the market
Managing director, Rob England (right) said: “Connecting for Health came along and the market became very stagnant. There was rumour and counter-rumour and misinformation. A lot of people said everyone would have LSP systems. A lot of people said the market would all come back the same way it was originally.
"But even if we had a practice that said it wanted to get Crosscare [the Healthy Software flagship system], PCTs tended to sit on it. We started looking at other things."
England explains that the main asset was Crosscare’s highly configurable structure. “We are trying to put the user in charge. They can choose how to look at a record and choose how to build the data.”
This meant the system could be adapted to support many different types of healthcare, not just general practice. So far, hospices, immigration centres, multi-national companies and independent medical practices have signed up – and the business is thriving.
“Our medical director, Dr Mike Waldron, is also a hospice trustee. He started to push us to look to hospice needs. I also came to the conclusion that private practice was pretty close to general practice – but with an invoice,” says England.
The firm currently has 17 hospices signed up – as we talk England explains that the numbers are increasing frequently. He is aiming to have about 50 hospices using Crosscare by the end of the year.
A new office in Harley Street is at the centre of Healthy Software’s drive to sign up independent medical practices. “You’ve got to be there,” explained England, whose main base is in Derby.
There are around 2,500 doctors with consulting rooms in Harley Street and the immediate area around it. Many work on paper or have old systems. Responses so far indicate an appetite for change to a modern system.
England also plans to offer a private data centre, available for a monthly subscription, to take away the headache of secure data storage. Another potential area of expansion is with large firms that offer a medical service to employees.
Though he likes the quick decision making and absence of red tape in the private sector, England recognises the need to ensure that systems installed will need to join up with the NHS sooner or later.
“Hospices want to know that you are doing all the things that will enable them to connect to national systems,” he said. And when Connecting for Health want to talk about linking in hospices or independent doctors, Healthy Software will be ready, he says.
There’s also a firm aim to keep the existing NHS business serving around 75 GP practices, a goal that will be much more achievable when the new agreements on system choice are in place.
A great racing fan, England is – like the more successful practitioners of one of his favourite sports – plainly able to stay the course and undeterred by high hurdles.
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