We catch up with David Brown, Managing Director at CLEO Systems
We’re doing our annual catch up and reflection at the end of the fiscal year at CLEO Systems - and it’s safe to say that it’s been a busy and exciting time during 2024 and the first quarter of 2025!
2024 really was a landmark year for CLEO Systems, marked by advancements in our healthcare technology delivery and broadening our customer base across the NHS. We’re really proud of our teams and our customers who continue to lead in transforming healthcare delivery - prioritising innovation, collaboration and supporting clinical teams.
In the summer of 2024, we announced that we’d signed a contract with NHS England on the Pathfinder Independent Pharmacist Prescriber Pilot Programme. This saw us working with NHS England and supplier stakeholders to start to roll out CLEO SOLO EPS across community pharmacies in England, supporting pharmacists in the community as they prepare to prescribe for minor illnesses.
In November we were able to share that the first of NHS England’s Independent Prescriber Pathfinder programme sites had gone live with the system at Well Pharmacy in Keighley. This was a really exciting moment for us, as this pilot programme spans 210 community pharmacy sites across the 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICB) across England.
At the end of March 2025, we celebrated CLEO SOLO EPS third birthday at Digital Health Rewired and with the team at the Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT).
Can you tell us about your latest deployments and developments with clients?
We’ve expanded usage of CLEO SOLO EPS more widely across more NHS Trusts, including: Coventry and Warwickshire, Birmingham Community, Whittington – to name but a few.
- CLEO SOLO EPS is now being used by 17 NHS Trusts, and some of our key deployments in 2024 and early 2025 include: Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust: Deployed CLEO SOLO EPS across its services in December 2024, enhancing prescription management and efficiency.
- Whittington Health NHS Trust: Rolled out CLEO SOLO EPS in September 2024, streamlining outpatient and community prescribing.
- Hampshire and IOW NHS Foundation Trust: Launched CLEO SOLO EPS for outpatient community services, further highlighting the versatility of CLEO’s solutions.
Tell us about the UCL Centre for Digital Innovation (CDI) powered by AWS Impact Accelerator Programme?
CLEO Systems was selected to join Cohort 4 of the UCL Centre for Digital Innovation (CDI) powered by AWS Impact Accelerator Programme back in 2023. This joint initiative between UCL and AWS aims to produce evidence-based, commercially sustainable technological innovations in healthcare and education and we came to the end of the programme with some great results and learnings.
Sounds great! What about the conferences you’ve been to over the past year?
We’ve been out to lots of conferences over past year and - as ever - it’s been a great experience getting out and about sharing our innovations and successes and hearing from our customers.
In February we also attended HETT North and the EPR Show – both of which were a great opportunity for learning and sharing.
We were at the HETT Show in September 2024, the Patient Flow Conference in June 2024, as well as the EPR Summit and the Pharmacy Show last October. We’ll be at the Clinical Pharmacy show in June too! In November we were at Urgent Health UK (UHUK) – the biggest conference for urgent care providers and brings together over 150 social enterprise healthcare professionals from across the UK.
We were most recently at Digital Health Rewired, where we connected with customers, collaborators, users and prospects – it was great to be at the heart of the action and meet so many people doing such great things with CLEO solutions.
And what’s been going on more widely over the past year for healthcare technology?
The Darzi report highlights some big changes needed in urgent and emergency care, focusing on moving care out of hospitals, making better use of digital technology, and putting more emphasis on prevention and early intervention. It’s all about finding smarter ways to deliver care that not only improve patient access but also help ease the strain on NHS services. Digital solutions have a huge role to play in making processes more efficient, supporting clinicians, and ultimately ensuring patients get the right care at the right time.
CLEO Systems is committed to supporting the NHS as it looks ahead to the next 10 years. With a focus on moving care out of hospitals, embracing digital innovation, and prioritizing prevention, we are developing solutions that help healthcare providers adapt to these changes. Our digital tools are designed to improve access to urgent care, streamline clinical workflows, and support more proactive approaches to patient health. By working closely with urgent care teams, we aim to play a key role in delivering the sustainable, technology-driven healthcare system outlined in the NHS’s long-term vision.
Tell us about CLEO CORE and CLEO CAS
CLEO CORE continues to be a driving force in improving patient journeys through urgent care. Our latest enhancement, CLEO CAS, is transforming Clinical Assessment Services (CAS) by allowing patients to be booked into scheduled appointments within the Integrated Urgent Care (IUC) service, with instant NHS 111 integration and manual scheduling.
Early adopters of CLEO CAS have reported significant improvements in efficiency and patient care. Clinicians are now able to conduct over three consultations per hour, up from an average of 1.5 consultations, significantly enhancing service delivery.
It sounds like a really busy year! Anything else?
We’ve been shortlisted in the Health Investor awards, which will be announced in June 2025, while two of our customers, MPFT and NELFT have been shortlisted in the HSJ Digital Awards for their usage of CLEO solutions.
On a personal level, I graduated from Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick, in a Masters in Business Administration. I’ve also completed a subsequent Post Graduate Award in AI with Warwick Business School, which provides exciting insights when combined with my MBA. I’m really excited to bring everything I’ve learned from my MBA back to CLEO. This journey has given me a fresh perspective on how we can scale the solution, improve it with real feedback from clinicians and explore new opportunities to make a real difference for patients and healthcare teams.
Can you tell us what’s coming up for the rest of 2025 for CLEO Systems?
We’ve got lots of new deployments across different sectors and geographic locations that we are currently working on.
As we move through 2025, CLEO Systems remains committed to driving innovation in healthcare technology. We will continue expanding the reach of CLEO SOLO EPS, building on the success of the NHS Pathfinder Programme, and exploring new opportunities for collaboration within the NHS.
From transforming prescription workflows to enhancing urgent care services, 2024 has been an exceptional year for CLEO Systems. We are proud to be making a lasting impact on healthcare delivery and look forward to another year of innovation, collaboration, and improved patient outcomes.
And finally - I’d just like to say how great it has been to work with our customers who are so collaborative and forward thinking. I am also so very proud of the team here at CLEO Systems - who continue to lead the way, delivering new and innovative approaches where benefits are reaped by patients and clinicians alike.