Digital triage firm eConsult Health has attracted £7 million in new investment.
With considerable growth over the last year, the platform is now live in over 3,200 NHS GP practices and gives millions of patients access to their own GP online.
The funding round will be used to accelerate growth in primary care and support the rollout into the secondary care market.
Calculus Capital, a leading EIS and VCT institutional investor, has participated in the new investment round led by Gresham House Ventures, a growth equity investor, alongside existing shareholders.
The company raised more than £5m in October 2020.
eConsult works as a digital gateway to a GP practice, allowing clinicians to determine the right care pathway more efficiently for patients, benefiting the GP practices by releasing capacity and reducing costs.
It is driven by a clinician-led bank of 10,000+ questions produced using evidence-based medicine, NICE guidance, Clinical Knowledge Summaries and NHS.UK sources.
It records patient details, case history, symptoms, and provides them to the GP in a concise format where they are processed in 2-3 minutes. Research shows that 70% of requests are closed without the need for a face-to-face appointment.
Rapid adoption of London-based eConsult’s solution has been aided by the introduction of centralised government funding for online consultation in 2016 and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased the need for digital triage systems leading to an acceleration in uptake.
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As well as continuing to support the dominant position in NHS primary care, the investment will support the rollout of the Company’s Urgent and Emergency Care tool, eTriage, and outpatient triage tool, eSpecialist.
eTriage is designed to automatically check-in and prioritise patients upon arrival to an Emergency Department, identifying sick patients earlier, reducing the waiting time and ensuring that any red flags are immediately re-directed to the appropriate emergency care.
eConsult is also advancing with its additional product, eSpecialist, which is intended to improve the efficiency of outpatient appointments and allow a joined-up service through primary and secondary care.
Dr Murray Ellender, CEO of eConsult Health, commented: “This funding will help us keep pace with the product development we need to support cutting edge health technology across both primary and secondary care.
“NHS patients deserve an excellent digital experience when interacting with the health service and we now look forward to delivering the transformation needed.”
Henry Alty, Investment Director at Gresham House Ventures said: “At such a crucial moment for healthcare provision, funding the right businesses in this space is more important than ever.
“The eConsult platform has already proven the power of its clinically led technology, as the most widely used digital consultation solution and the first choice for NHS GP surgeries.”
Richard Moore, Investment Director at Calculus Capital said: “eConsult are revolutionising healthcare provision in GP practices, and we are excited by their potential to expand into secondary care.
“Calculus are delighted to be supporting this impressive management team who are passionate about improving the service provided to NHS patients.”
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