Australian company delivers mobile messaging for UK's NHS

Australian company Soprano Design has begun a multi-million dollar roll out of secure messaging for the UK's NHS.

Soprano Design's cloud-based Mobile Enterprise Messaging Solution (MEMS) is being rolled out across the health service.

A number of major UK hospitals, including the Queen Victoria Hospital and Royal Surrey County Hospital, are employing MEMS already, and the rollout of the system is being undertaken at hundreds of primary and secondary care facilities in England and Scotland, said Soprano Design, which did not mention the NHS by name in its announcement.

"Across these facilities, MEMS is connecting a spider web of proprietary and third party mission-critical IT applications that deliver high-volume SMS, email and fax messages to employees and patients," Soprano Design's CEO, Horden Wiltshire, said in a statement.

"From the grassroots patient levels right up to senior administration, MEMS is connecting many thousands of health care workers and with patients to receive alerts and urgent notifications about their care.

"While this is happening in an individual doctor and nurse to patient environment, it's also enabling quick and secure SMS connections to help improve hospital administration and, on a wider scale again, broadcasts to whole communities."

"For example, patients are reminded to attend appointments to improve failure-to-attend rates and shorten waiting lists," the CEO said.

"In cases where more than one practitioner is caring for a patient, these healthcare providers are easily connected to share instant updates and actions. And hospital administration can quickly communicate with staff to fill shifts."

Soprano Design would not reveal the total value of the tender.

The company said its encrypted mobile messaging application, Soprano GAMMA, could also potentially be rolled out across the health system.