X-on Health formed by SCG to focus on cloud telephony solution

SCG has announced it is launching X-on Health – a dedicated business unit that will be focusing on primary care and GP surgeries to support the roll out of modern communication systems.

In March 2022, SCG acquired Storacall Technology Ltd, which traded as X-on.

SCG subsidiary Switch Medical will be joining the team at X-on to form X-on Health. In addition, Storacall Technology Ltd has been renamed X-on Health to reflect its singular focus.

Paul Bradford, CEO SCG, said: “I could not be more proud of the work the team at X-on Health are doing to support GP surgeries remove the 8am rush by providing surgeries with the tools to better manage patient demand.

“Bringing together all our best people from across the group is another step towards our goal of helping surgeries provide a better access experience for all patients.”

X-on’s leading cloud telephony system is Surgery Connect. It is used by around 30% of GP surgeries currently, delivering unlimited ‘lines’, call-back functionality and the ability to divert patients who are looking for prescriptions, test results or other services from the main queue.

It also gives admin teams new sources of data to identify and address pressure points. Thanks to integration with GP systems, it supports doctors to contact patients by phone, email or SMS from the electronic record.

Procurement framework

Surgery Connect is one of just five cloud telephony systems to be listed on the Advanced Telephony Better Purchasing framework from the NHS.

The framework aims to radically improve access to GP surgeries. It will enable integrated care boards, primary care networks and practices to procure the advanced communication platforms that are set to play a key role in the delivery plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care.

Steve Barclay, health and social care secretary, said of the launch of the delivery plan, that replacing “old, analogue phones with modern systems” would help to end “the 8am scramble for appointments” by increasing capacity and making it easier for patients to “get the care they need as soon as possible”.

X-on managing director Paul Bensley said: “The delivery plan lays out an ambitious agenda for modernising the way that patients contact their primary care teams and find the care they need, in a way that reduces the administrative burden on care navigators and GPs.

“Importantly, it is backed by funding and a purchasing framework to enable commissioners and practices to obtain the modern, functional systems they need; and I hope that procurement and implementation will now move forward at pace.”

The five suppliers chosen for the framework all meet a “national cloud-based telephony specification” and NHS terms and conditions according to an NHS England market engagement exercise.

Bensley added: “We look forward to working with the NHS to deliver its vision. The bringing together of all SCG’s dedicated resources for primary care under X-on Health is an important step on our journey of setting the standards for using cloud telephony to improve patient access.”