Cutting-edge software designed by pioneering Bristol firm Invatech Health is being used by an online pharmacy to fuel its rapid growth and continue the sector’s digital revolution.
Phlo is experiencing monthly compound growth of 20% after launching in January last year. It now serves more than 10,000 private and NHS patients and is the only pharmacy to guarantee same day delivery of medicines. 
As the Glasgow-headquartered firm targets continued expansion, it is deploying Invatech Health’s Patient Medication Record (PMR) system Titan.
The cloud-based system is already being used by leading online pharmacies across the UK, offering them a platform which can support their ambitious growth plans while supporting their customers and operations teams.
It can manage end-to-end workflow within pharmacies – of medicine dispensing and management, control of business activities and reporting – to speed up the user experience for patients and practice owners alike.
Crucially it also aims to free up pharmacists’ time, enabling them to focus on newly-commissioned patient services designed to relieve the burden from under-pressure GPs and the wider NHS.
In Phlo’s case, it is expected to lead to efficiency gains of 60% by the end of next year as the business executes expansion. 
Phlo CEO Nadeem Sarwar, pictured, right, with CCO Adam Hunter and CFO Lauren Nicholson, said: “Our business is growing at such a rate that we need to continue to improve our systems to ensure that the patient journey is as smooth and seamless as possible.
“In addition, like pharmacies across our sector, we also need to take operational load off the shoulders of pharmacists, to free up their time.
“Titan will help us do that. For example, new patient enrolment is currently being done manually by pharmacists, who should really be dealing with patients. So with Titan we’ll be able to onboard patients faster.
“And, of course, the software will help with the security and productivity of our pharmacy and operations teams while providing better data and analytics to enable us to make informed decisions which can support our future growth.”
He said there were massive growth opportunities as just 1% of prescription patients currently received pharmacy services online.
“Titan is going to help us properly scale up. It will make a huge difference to the way we operate, and also to our patient care which is our absolute north star of how we operate,” he added. 
Earlier this year Invatech Health received a further £950,000 loan from Innovate UK under a programme to support game-changing innovations in the UK’s SME community.
The loan will support ongoing development of Titan, which is the first PMR system to receive NHS accreditation for 15 years.
Invatech Health CEO Tariq Muhammad, pictured, said: “Having established our systems in the community pharmacy sector, we are now enjoying rolling out Titan to the online pharmacy sector. We’re processing prescriptions at a speed which is unheard of until now.
“I’m very proud of my team for the work that they have done and the partnership we have developed with the Phlo team.
“It’s been an intense period of work between teams at both companies but we jointly recognised the opportunity and the importance of what we were doing.
“We’re delighted to be supporting Phlo with its future growth plans, benefitting not only their business but also the services enjoyed by patients and, ultimately, the NHS as a whole.”
Phlo, which is backed by crowd funding of £1.65m in the past 12 months, now has plans to expand its network of pharmacy hubs to major cities across the UK.
As well as its operations and technology teams in Glasgow, it currently operates pharmacy centres in London and Birmingham, where it launched earlier this month.
