In implementation
One record for every patient, wherever they’re treated.
iHERS stands for integrated healthcare electronic records system. It brings everything known about a patient, from doctors’ notes and medicines to test results and vital signs, into one record that every clinic, pharmacy, laboratory and hospital works from. Patients spend less time in queues, and the people caring for them start with the whole picture.
We built it for a national health authority, and we’re now bringing it into service with them.
Today, a patient’s story is kept in pieces.
A paper folder at one clinic. Prescriptions at a pharmacy. Results at a laboratory. Readings taken at home that nobody sees. Nothing connects them, so the patient carries a paper folder from one queue to the next, and waits in each one.
Today: five places, five partial records
With iHERS: one record, shared by all five
What changes with one shared record.
When everyone works from the same record, a lot of waiting and paperwork falls away. This is what iHERS is designed to change, and for whom.
Patients
Travel to the clinic, wait for their folder to be found or fill in forms to create one, then carry it from queue to queue: triage, the doctor, tests or scans, and medicine.
Start with an AI-assisted consultation from home. If that is enough, there is no trip to make. If not, a doctor on call takes over, and wherever the patient goes next, their record is already there.
Doctors and nurses
Nurses triage a full waiting room, and can only start once each folder exists. Doctors work from whatever is in it, and every test or scan needs a referral printed for the patient to take to the next queue.
See history, medicines, allergies, results and recent vital signs on screen before the patient sits down. Referrals reach the next department before the patient does. With routine cases helped from home, the most urgent patients are seen first.
Pharmacists
Work from a paper prescription, with no view of what the patient is already taking or what another pharmacy has dispensed.
Receive the prescription electronically, already checked against the patient’s other medicines and allergies. Once it has been dispensed, it can’t be dispensed again somewhere else.
Clinics and hospitals
Spend staff time finding or creating folders, capturing the same details on forms again, and printing pages for the folder or for the patient to carry to the next queue. When a counter is short-staffed or at lunch, every queue behind it grows.
Notes, prescriptions and referrals go straight into the record, with nothing to print or carry. Patients who can be helped from home don’t join the queue, which leaves room for those who need to be seen in person.
The health authority
Plans from reports that arrive long after the events they describe.
Sees anonymised patterns as they form: where illness is rising, where medicines are running low and where staff are stretched. No individual is identified.
See every visit, before and after.
Lerato has a headache. Watch what seeing a doctor takes today, then the same morning with iHERS: a consultation from home, a doctor on call, and room at the clinic for the patients who need to be seen.
The film is an illustration. The people, places, readings and reference numbers are fictional, and the screens are simplified.
One record, multiple views.
Each person sees the part of the record their role needs. Choose one to see what they do with it.
The patient record
Everything known about one patient, in four layers.
Patient app
Appointments, medicines and readings, on their phone.
AI-assisted consultation
A first answer without the queue.
Doctor portal
The full story, before they say hello.
Pharmacy
Checked before it’s dispensed.
Clinic
Bookings and the day’s patients on one screen.
Health authority
The national picture as it forms, anonymised.
- A smart ring sends her readings.
- She asks a question. It already knows her vitals.
- If it’s unsure, a doctor steps in with everything attached.
- The prescription is checked and dispensed.
- Her record is updated for whoever sees her next.
- The health authority sees the pattern, never the person.
- Now repeat that at every facility that joins.
Designed for scale.
Every facility that joins works from the same record. We’re starting with a pilot in two provinces.
300,000nursing hours
600,000subsidised transport hours
What a shared record makes possible as it grows
Care that follows the patient
Treated at one facility, already known at the next.
Problems seen early
Rising illness shows in the data as it happens.
Resources where they’re needed
Staff, medicines and budgets planned on current information.
Fits what’s already there
Connects to existing laboratory, pharmacy and hospital systems through the HL7 FHIR standard.
These are design targets and projections, not results.
How patients and their data are protected.
A doctor always within reach
The assistant hands over to a doctor whenever it isn’t sure or a reading looks urgent. Patients can always ask for a human clinician.
Privacy by design
Built to meet POPIA. Patients give consent, each person sees only what their role needs, and the data is encrypted.
Full audit trail
Every entry shows who made it, where and when.
Works on low bandwidth
Designed to keep working on slow, low-bandwidth connections.
Always available
Mirrored data, with automatic failover if something goes down.
Synthetic data first
We test on made-up data before any real record is involved.
What’s next.
- Now
Pilot
The first release goes into service at the first sites, as a pilot in two provinces. On-call doctors join the platform in this phase.
- Next
Scale
Then more facilities, labs and registries.
- Later
Planning from the data
Helping the health authority see where need is rising.
Questions about iHERS, answered.
What is iHERS?
iHERS stands for integrated healthcare electronic records system. It brings everything known about a patient, from doctors’ notes and medicines to test results and vital signs, into one record that every clinic, pharmacy, laboratory and hospital works from.
Who is iHERS for?
Patients, doctors and nurses, pharmacists, clinics and hospitals, and the health authority. Each person sees the part of the record their role needs.
How does iHERS cut the time patients spend in queues?
Today a paper folder has to be found or created at reception, and the patient carries it from one queue to the next. With iHERS the record is already there wherever the patient goes, and prescriptions and referrals arrive electronically. Patients can also start with an AI-assisted consultation from home, so those who can be helped remotely don’t need to travel or join a queue.
Does the AI-assisted consultation replace a doctor?
No. It is a first step. The assistant hands over to a doctor whenever it isn’t sure or a reading looks urgent, and patients can always ask for a human clinician.
How is patient information protected?
iHERS is built to meet POPIA, South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act. Patients give consent, each person sees only what their role needs, the data is encrypted, and every entry shows who made it, where and when.
Does iHERS work where the internet connection is slow?
Yes. It is designed to keep working on slow, low-bandwidth connections.
Can iHERS work with systems that are already in place?
Yes. It connects to existing laboratory, pharmacy and hospital systems through the HL7 FHIR standard.
Who built iHERS, and is it in use yet?
Root 7 built iHERS for a national health authority, which owns it. It is being implemented now, starting with a pilot.