The creation of EMIS LV was the very start of EMIS. The software was created in a rural practice in Egton near Whitby in North Yorkshire. Dr Peter Sowerby and Dr David Stables wrote the software with the founding principle that the systems used by GP surgeries should improve patient care, and the idea of EMIS ‘written by doctors, for doctors’ was born.

Beyond the benefit of making patient records available to GPs via computer, EMIS LV was developed to meet other needs, including the capacity to provide a statistical insight into health trends in a surgery’s catchment area; provide key up to date medical knowledge; support patients’ information needs; facilitate safer prescribing, and administer all aspects of the practice.

From strength to strength

Over the last decade the system has grown to meet and exceed the requirements for a clinical system in the digital age, such as Population Manager to help GPs attain and keep track of their QOF points; award winning EMIS Access – the UK’s first online appointment booking system for GPs; and interoperable data exchange with countless third party healthcare applications and devices, such as text message reminders and document management.