Healthcare software and IT firm EMIS Group has acquired fellow UK-based tech firm FourteenFish for £15.8m.
Founded in 2012 by a GP and an IT specialist, FourteenFish supports over 100,000 healthcare professionals – including GPs, nurses and practice managers – with their continued professional development (CPD) and ongoing industry learning.
It is the preferred appraisal toolkit partner for the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and delivers the RCGP portfolio for trainee GPs.
Dr Shaun O’Hanlon, EMIS Group chief medical officer said: “This is a timely acquisition that will enable EMIS to further support healthcare professionals at a time when pressures on their workloads, especially for those working in primary care, has never been higher.
“FourteenFish’s suite of learning tools and its philosophy to make learning easier and more enjoyable for healthcare professionals will add real value to our customers and expand our reach in an important space within the healthcare industry.”
Dr Shaun O’Hanlon, chief medical officer, EMIS, said: “I very much look forward to seeing the positive impact we can have in supporting the professional development of many more healthcare professionals through innovative technology.”
Co-founder of FourteenFish Dr Duncan Walling said: “When I was a practising GP, every year I promised myself that I would get better at recording my CPD, but I never quite managed it
“I left general practice to set up FourteenFish because I knew there must be a better way – an easier and more intuitive way that made learning simple, but not any less powerful.
“Given the unprecedented pressures on NHS professionals following the pandemic, I am delighted that we can now expand our reach and impact by becoming part of EMIS.”
The FourteenFish deal follows EMIS’ successful acquisition of primary care data and analytics specialist Edenbridge Healthcare in January this year.
Founded in 2014, Edenbridge is a leading provider of near real-time insights to primary care. Its APEX software supports over 1,000 GP practices and organisations such as Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and Clinical Commissioning Groups
The acquisition strengthened EMIS’s ability to support under-pressure primary care services through the post-Covid recovery, and to drive the future transformation of the NHS.
