In January 2024, Joel and the team at Refuah began looking for a practice management system for their opening date in May. Running a multidisciplinary clinic with home visits, they needed something that could be used by a wide range of staff both in-clinic and remotely.
“We did a thorough investigation before we started. We took advice from the clinicians joining us – some had done private work with Semble, as well as NHS systems like EMIS. We narrowed it down to Semble early on – it was just a more digitally seamless process.”
Ultimately, Refuah signed with an alternate provider, as they seemed to have similar functionality at a lower price. But it wasn’t long before they began coming up against multiple system errors.
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Joel BermanFinance Director, Refuah Medical Centre |
“Things weren’t working. One alarm bell was around consultation notes; there was no autofill on things like medications, it either didn’t exist or wasn’t working. Things like that are critical – there must be an aid to the GP at a basic level.”
Having signed with the competitor in January, Joel and his team should’ve had plenty of time to become fully operational before May – but time was running out, and the system continued to fail.
“We got very nervous. We had to ask ourselves: ‘Are we going to open and have chaos, or are we going to take a gamble and switch now before it’s too late?’ We decided to switch.”
Refuah joined Semble four weeks before they were due to open. Luckily, Semble were able to offer a much smoother experience, meaning the centre was able to open as planned on 7th May without a hitch.
“It was amazing. Everything just worked first time. We haven’t had any bugs. I needed to know that when I opened the practice, I could book an appointment, do consultation notes, raise a prescription, take a payment. Not only could I do these things, but much more too.”
Since opening, Semble Data has proved invaluable to many staff members across Refuah, with the ability to easily create a variety of reports catering to each one’s unique needs.
“That was one of the downsides to the previous system, it didn’t have out-of-the-box reporting like Semble. I wanted to hit the ground running in May, not spend weeks writing reports exactly how I wanted them.
“Semble has thought about the kind of reports different staff want to see: for doctors, practice managers. You can see how many patients are coming in, what the revenue’s like, what’s performing well.
"We just found a report about products – within three minutes, we had a list of all the medications we have in Semble, how many we hold of each and how much each on has made. It just works.”
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Joel BermanFinance Director, Designated Medical |
As a multidisciplinary service, the integrations Semble offers have been crucial to Refuah’s unique medical offering.
“We’re using nearly every integration – it’s one of the primary reasons we went with Semble. It’s easy to configure, and you can bring services online when you’re ready. We’re connected to The Doctor’s Lab, for example, so we can easily raise the order for labs through Semble during a consultation.
“This is what separates us from other practices: reception is notified about the need for labs, and the patient can get them done right here. Normally you’re sent off with a print-out to get them elsewhere. Here, it’s all done on one system, including payment at the end. It all works very nicely.”
The all-in-one element of Semble fits in perfectly with the digital-first ethos of Refuah. With Semble, there’s no physical paperwork. They can facilitate home visits for patients who can’t make it to the practice, taking Semble via a tablet and portable payment terminals. Their staff can log into Semble remotely to view their notes and complete their reports.
“There’s a digital journey that doesn’t require manual intervention. It handles multiple locations easily. Everything’s quicker, less stress for staff, less chance of human error, so a better patient experience.”