Leading virtual ward provider to the British NHS expands to 12 new markets 

London, 18 August 2023: Leading virtual ward technology provider Doccla (www.doccla.com) today announced the acquisition of medically certified cloud-based platform OpenTeleHealth (www.oth.io, “OTH”).

The acquisition immediately expands Doccla’s global presence, meaning the company now has clients in 13 countries (10 in Europe), with almost 10,000 patients under active monitoring. It is a significant step for Doccla and marks the point at which the company progresses to become Europe’s virtual hospital. Notably, Doccla will immediately work with existing OTH clients, which include Siemens Healthineers in Scandinavia and TeleCare North – the biggest telehealth programme in Denmark, that was established in 2013.

Since its founding in 2019, Doccla has swiftly become the leading virtual ward provider to the British NHS and is now present within dozens of NHS trusts, with a patient compliance rate of over 95% and an independently verified saving for the NHS of £3 for every £1 spent on Doccla. 

Commenting, Doccla CEO and co-founder Dag Larsson said: “Doccla and OTH have worked together for an extended period of time and I am delighted to take the next step in our relationship. We have found them a terrific and valuable partner since our founding, and our coming together means we can move at an even greater pace – to the benefit of patient outcomes across Europe. Doccla was founded in 2019 as a research project with the British NHS, and we’re now present in one in three UK healthcare systems, 10 European markets, and serve almost 10,000 patients; with some 4 million patient days monitored. We are now Europe’s leading virtual hospital and are looking forward to continuing to positively impact patient outcomes across the continent.”

On the acquisition, OTH Founder and CEO Henrik Ledgaard Ibsen said: “OTH was founded to demonstrate the effectiveness of large-scale remote health management – something we have proved time and time again in our decade of operations. We have worked closely with Doccla for several years and the acquisition was a natural next step. Our clients will immediately benefit from Doccla’s remarkable attention to detail, customer-centric outlook, and industry-leading patient results.

Under the acquisition, Doccla will continue using OTH’s technology (as they have done for several years) and develop one of the world’s most reliable and flexible remote patient monitoring platforms. Crucially, the acquisition closes the loop and means Doccla’s category-leading patient outcomes can be taken to new markets. 

As the first CQC-registered (CQC is the independent regulator of health and social care in England) virtual ward provider in the UK, Doccla is regulated the same as any hospital or GP practice. This enables Doccla to use its own team of clinicians to plug-in and support healthcare workers, providing additional capacity and care for patients.

Following the acquisition of OTH, its workforce will become part of Doccla, and in Europe, Doccla is now active in: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Outside of Europe, Doccla is now present in Singapore, also through the acquisition.

Doccla’s virtual ward technology is designed to keep patients at home and out of hospital, whilst still being closely digitally monitored by healthcare professionals. Patients receiving care through the virtual ward service are given a tailor-made box of equipment, which includes a pre-configured smartphone. The box also includes wearable medical devices that, depending on a person’s needs, can measure heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, blood oxygen levels, blood pressure and a range of other vital signs. The Doccla system covers over 40 clinical pathways and can be deployed within a few weeks.

Launched in the UK during the pandemic, Doccla was created following the unexpected heart attack of its founder, Martin Ratz, who soon realised the immense benefits of virtual ward and monitoring technology to patients and healthcare systems. Since then, the company has experienced extraordinary growth: today it is present in one in three of all Integrated Care Systems (ICS) in the UK. To date, Doccla has already saved thousands of bed days for the NHS and has achieved a 29% reduction in Emergency Admissions and a 20% reduction in A&E attendance for client health trusts. 

About Doccla

Doccla is the UK’s leading virtual ward company. We partner with hospitals to enable early discharge and reduced readmission across a wide range of patient groups. Our end to end solution is device agnostic, integrates with local systems, and delivers data driven insights. As an accredited healthcare operator, we provide additional clinical capacity – not just technology – to reduce hospital workload. Our virtual ward service is a market leader in patient compliance and satisfaction.

Doccla investors include international VC General Catalyst (backers of industry leaders such as Airbnb, Deliveroo, Monzo, and Stripe), KHP Ventures (a collaboration between King’s College London, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust), Giant Ventures, and Speedinvest.