CTFA.L Regulatory News (CTFA)

14 Dec 2009 07:00

14 December 2009 Avia Health Informatics Plc ("Avia" or "the Company") Five year contract with Mastercall Healthcare

Avia (AIM:AVIA), the developer and provider of clinical decision support systems worldwide, announces that its subsidiary, The Plain Software Company Limited ("Plain"), has been awarded a five year contract with Mastercall Healthcare ("Mastercall") for decision support tools.

The principal terms of the contract provide that; Odyssey TeleAssess and Odyssey FaceToFace is to be implemented in two "8 till 8" centres and Plain will grant access to six Odyssey TeleAssess licences and four Odyssey FaceToFace licences. Avia will receive 110,000 in five annual instalments over the life of the contract.

Mastercall Healthcare ("Mastercall") is the out of hours service provider for the Stockport and Trafford area comprising in excess of 540,000 people. Mastercall has recently been awarded a five year contract to provide out of hours services to two "8 till 8" centres. The centres will typically provide the out of hours services with a GP and Nurse skill-mix. Mastercall currently handles in excess of 70,000 out of hours contacts and over 10,000 walk in contacts on an annual basis. Mastercall services are currently managed by over 200 Nursing and Administration staff and over 150 Doctors working on a rotational basis.

Mastercall is also the only out of hours service provider that is accredited by John Moores University Liverpool for the provision of minor illness courses for its nursing team. The skill base inherent within Mastercall, together with the functionality of Plain's Odyssey product range, will further strengthen Mastercall's commitment to the development of skills within its nursing team.

It is anticipated that Odyssey TeleAssess will be introduced initially, with a Nurse contacting those patients accessing the out of hours service, and completing a nurse assessment over the phone. They will then be given either, self-care advice to manage the condition at home, or advised to seek some form of medical intervention.

Once the TeleAssess product has been implemented the rollout of Odyssey FaceToFace will commence; this application being used where there is a face-to-face encounter between a Nurse and a Patient.

Mastercall will have, at any given time, access to six Odyssey TeleAssess licences and four Odyssey FaceToFace licences. It is envisaged that the number of licences required by Mastercall will increase as it rolls out new services.

Audrey Duckett, Director of Nursing at Mastercall commented:

"We have a strong multidisciplinary nursing team at Mastercall who are central to the face-to -face and triage consultations. This system is a great investment for the team to assist conversion and consistent patient centred care across all our services".

Barry Giddings, Chairman, Avia, commented:

"This is, although modest in terms of the Company's annual turnover, another excellent strategic contract win, the second since we joined AIM in November, and the fact that it is for five years shows the confidence that Mastercall has in our products. Mastercall provide a number of centres with out of hours services and we are hopeful that this contract will lead to additional licence sales in the short to medium term. Plain's marketing team are doing an excellent job and on the back of new contract wins we are steadily increasing our market penetration."

Enquiries:Avia Health Informatics Plc Barry Giddings, Chairman 07770 747 818 Nigel Leavy, Finance Director 07966 013 421 Merchant John East Securities Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker) Simon Clements/Bidhi Bhoma 020 7628 2200 Lothbury Financial (Financial PR) Gary Middleton/Michael Padley 020 7011 9411

For more information on Avia Health Informatics Plc please visit www.ahi-plc.com or for the Odyssey product range, please visit www.plain.co.uk

Notes to editors

Avia Health Informatics plc was admitted to trading on AIM on 16 November having completed a reverse takeover of The Plain Software Company Limited ("Plain"). It is Avia's intention to grow the business both organically and by acquisition.

The Company produces a range of clinical decision support products under the Odyssey brand:

* Odyssey TeleAssess which supports telephone triage by nurses and the provision of up-to-date self are advice; is also used to manage demand for clinical services in an efficient manner. Used by GP out of ours services, GP surgeries in-hours, ambulance trusts and the MoD. * Odyssey FaceToFace is used by nurse-led clinics such as NHS Walk-in Centres, GP-led Health entres, Polyclinics, primary care centres and practices staffed by varying nurse grades. It's also used in prisons. * Odyssey Reception is utilised by non-clinical staff to prioritise patient queues and identify potential emergencies quickly and safely. It may be used by receptionists throughout primary care services. * Odyssey Gold a state-of-the-art combination product comprising some or all Odyssey variants: Reception, TeleAssess and FaceToFace merged into one, seamless solution. * Odyssey eCover allows health managers to commission health workers to work from home to provide emergency cover when needed. Securely held on N3 servers, its sophisticated security system allows access via domestic broadband. * Odyssey FirstAssess is being developed specifically for use in the Prison service to help improve healthcare in this challenging environment.

Odyssey products interact with leading GP patient administration systems and other key systems used by the NHS.