Cutting-edge AI triage provider Klinik Healthcare Solutions has appointed chief medical officer and former GP Petteri Hirvonen as its new chief executive officer (CEO), as it looks to accelerate growth in the UK and global markets.

Hirvonen will help the Finnish health tech company, which works with more than 50 surgeries across the UK, to meet the complex needs of healthcare providers, its staff, and their patients, by drawing on his experience in clinical and leadership roles across healthcare and technology.

As a trained medical professional, he brings deep insight into the needs of frontline healthcare teams and organisations, and their desire to use technology that will help them deliver high-quality outcomes with efficient, sustainable processes.

The company’s co-founder and former chief operating officer also has several years’ experience in both public and private healthcare provider environments. He has held senior clinical and business executive roles in primary and secondary care, and so brings a solid understanding of the challenges facing the wider health ecosystem.

Growing demand across the UK and Europe

Hirvonen and the Klinik team will look to grow demand for Klinik’s AI-infused technology, which is currently helping over 400 practices across Europe to better manage demand.

Over 1.5 million patients in the UK, Finland, and Portugal have access to Klinik’s technology, whose intelligent online consultation and demand management solutions direct patients to the optimal resources in primary care.

“GP surgeries across the UK are using Klinik technology to redefine patient flow through our clinically-engineered online triage,” said Hirvonen. “Our intuitive solutions are here to help the patient, the professional, and the wider system, as digital technology comes a part of the ‘new normal’ for UK primary care.”

Klinik will benefit practice groups, primary care networks, and clinical commissioning groups, who are looking to use technology to meet the drive to ‘digital-first primary care’, and reduce practice workloads, enhance the patient experience, and deliver system-wide efficiencies.

Underpinning moves to more integrated, data-driven healthcare

Hirvonen is also keen to support wider moves to data-driven healthcare in the UK. “The data our technology can provide, from over 5 years’ in primary care, means that we can help inform how care is designed and delivered at a regional, and even national scale. However, we also need to use the data to benefit patients for their everyday health and life as well.”

Through live and historical dashboards covering multiple sites, Klinik presents all inbound data, from frequent users, to epidemiological information. This enables better resource planning and population health management.

Klinik’s Finnish heritage, where integrated and digitised primary care is the norm, also helps the firm understand the current and future needs of UK general practice.

“The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digital access to primary care,” said Hirvonen. “However there will still be demands on traditional channels, and the current challenge is actually to use intelligence to help the patients reach the appropriate channel and professional for their condition.

“Our experience shows us that, if you want to bring in a digital service to enhance and digitise the frontline of healthcare in an intelligent way, you cannot bring a partial solution. You have to be able to recognise and handle every case that comes through the door. Whether people come in via the phone, walk-ins, or online, we offer a single, intuitive solution that uses intelligent AI to manage all incoming demand for GP surgeries.”

Designed by doctors and other healthcare professionals, and based around user needs, patients enter symptoms into a simple, intuitive online web page. A clinically-supervised algorithm then routes their request directly to the most suitable member of the practice team, for example a physio or paramedic. This improves patient flow, removes costly steps in the healthcare process, and reduces the pressure on staff.

Director of UK Operations and Sales Ben Wood welcomed Hirvonen’s appointment. “We know that safe, reliable, evidence-driven technology will underpin the ‘new normal’ of digital-first primary care in the UK. Petteri’s medical knowledge, and grasp of the wider needs of health and care, will ensure that Klinik can be at the forefront of exciting developments for GPs and patients across the UK.”

Klinik Access is an online consultation & patient flow management software that directs patients to the optimal resource in primary care. The system’s unique algorithm interprets the person’s symptoms to make a provisional assessment, and estimates the urgency of the care needed. Based on this, the person is automatically referred to the right place for care to begin.