Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has acquired the business of Health Call Solutions Limited to increase its range of software products and improve healthcare for patients.
The trust will acquire software products to better manage healthcare data, enable NHS patients to manage appointments more easily and deliver care remotely into homes and communities.
A spokesperson for Northumbria Healthcare said: “We would like to thank our colleagues and partners who have all made this transaction possible including the other foundation trusts in the north east.
“We would also like to acknowledge the support given by Health Innovation North East and Cumbria and also Ammar Mirza CBE who, for the last seven months, has been supporting the development of the services of Health Call and has played an important role in making this deal possible.”
Health Call was founded in 2016 in order to share digital health expertise and resources, improve outcomes in the NHS and lower the costs of health services.
The firm, which started through a collaboration of the NHS foundation trusts in the north east of England, provides patients with access to digital technology and provides NHS staff with digital tools to support the care and outcomes for their patients.
It is hoped that by acquiring Health Call, Northumbria Healthcare will be able to improve digital services even further but also take an active role regionally and nationally in offering a patient engagement platform (PEP) that enables people to manage their medical appointments and clinical letters online.
The move continues Northumbria Healthcare’s digital strategy of developing and delivering services that support both the clinical staff and the public in accessing care, which has included the digitisation of millions of health records and the creation of new systems that help medical teams work more effectively.
In July 2024, Northumbria Healthcare went live with an electronic prescription system from CLEO Systems in its pregnancy assessment unit after signing a three year contract.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust launched its PEP in partnership with Health Call in February 2024 to connect patients with their care organisations through the NHS App and manage outpatient appointments digitally.