Dedalus acquires appointment and scheduling provider Swiftqueue

European health IT and diagnostics specialist Dedalus has acquired Swiftqueue in a bid to help support patient access digital services.

The Dedalus Group, which recently bought DXC Technology, has completed the acquisition of 100% of Swiftqueue Technologies which is a cloud-native appointment and scheduling solution provider.

Swiftqueue has worked with the NHS since 2013 and has more than 50 NHS trust customers around the UK, mainly provide scheduling systems for clinics. This includes appointment solutions for phlebotomy clinics, diagnostic imaging, vaccination services and multiple care pathways across acute and community services.

Speaking to Digital Health News, Colin Henderson, Dedalus’ managing director for the UK and Ireland, said the acquisition would “enrich” the company’s current offering and offers a chance for the company to help address current challenges facing the NHS.

“At the moment waiting lists are long and demand is high,” he added.

“On top of that, organisations are wrestling with how they manage their appointments and elective backlog and then you have got the impact of Covid in the middle of this.

“With Swiftqueue, you have a system of engagement that can link in with the patient and take the pressure off the clinicians and administrators.”

Henderson added the speed at which Swiftqueue can be deployed will also be a huge benefit.

“One of the advantages is the speed at which the technology (Swiftqueue) can be deployed, some customers have been able to go from a standing start to a having the service live in a couple of weeks,” he said.

“The pace at which it can take the pressure off the health service at a time when it is under exceeding pressure – that is something else that is a huge advantage.”

For Henderson, Swiftqueue is an example of “using digital to do what digital is good at”.

Dedalus has said that the acquisition will complement its existing scheduling and appointment handling capabilities. While for Swiftqueue, the acquisition offers the chance to expand to wider and international markets.

Brendan Casey, co-founder and CEO of Swiftqueue, told Digital Health News: “We have worked as partners [with Dedalus] for quite a while and we see this as the next stage in the journey for us to extend our digital offerings.

“The two companies complement each other, we have a number of shared customers and it’s a good alignment of both of our visions in terms of how we can bring digital solutions to enable access to healthcare.”