Cambridge, UK, Nov. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Patients Know Best (PKB) has partnered with Consultmed, an Australian digital referral and workflow platform used by health services across multiple Australian states, to bring its personal health record platform to Australia.
A Consultmed referral letter arriving in a patient’s Patients Know Best record.
Consultmed connects healthcare professionals across primary, community and hospital care, including general practitioners (GPs), specialists, nurses and allied health professionals. Through the partnership, secure, bilateral exchange using the FHIR interoperability standard will enable clinical documents to flow into patients’ PKB records and patient submitted information to return to treating services.
The Consultmed platform integrates with practice management systems widely used in Australia, including Best Practice, MedicalDirector, MediRecords and Gentu, as well as hospital electronic medical record systems from providers including Oracle Health, Altera Digital Health, Alcidion and InterSystems.
Consultmed’s customers include major public and private hospital networks such as the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, South Western Sydney Local Health District, Alfred Health, Mater Health and Gippsland Health Alliance. Monash Health, one of Australia’s largest health services, has also recently selected Consultmed for its network.
Australia becomes PKB’s tenth international market. Founded as a social enterprise in 2008, PKB works with more than 25% of acute hospital trusts within England’s National Health Service (NHS), serves more than 9.1 million registered patients and securely processes over 40 million test results each month.
PKB brings together information from healthcare providers, medical devices, wearables and patients themselves. Patients can access their record wherever they are and choose who they share it with.
Clinical documents routinely move between healthcare providers, yet patients often receive them much later, or not at all. People waiting for specialist care can also struggle to find out whether their referral has arrived or been reviewed.
In the first phase, referral letters, specialist reports and discharge summaries sent through Consultmed by participating services will be shared securely with the patient’s PKB record. Patients will receive an invitation by email or SMS to register.
Consultmed already sends patients updates as referrals are received, triaged and booked. These updates will also appear in PKB, bringing the referral, its progress and subsequent correspondence together.
The partnership complements My Health Record, Australia’s national electronic health record system, to which Consultmed also sends documents for participating services.
Consultmed will also use PKB to deliver forms, screening questionnaires, consents, and patient reported outcome and experience measures (PROMs and PREMs). Responses will return digitally to the treating service, helping teams prepare before appointments.
Clinicians will continue to write and send documents through their existing workflows. Services can extend their use of PKB to include appointment management, care plans and secure messaging.
Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, Founder and CEO of Patients Know Best, said:
“Expanding into Australia is an important milestone for PKB. My Health Record provides a national foundation for sharing health information, and we are pleased to complement that work by helping patients access and use their information.
“Consultmed’s established connections across Australian healthcare create an immediate opportunity to bring patients into that exchange, with scope for services to offer broader patient portal features over time.
“Together, we are making sure that a letter written about a patient reaches the patient as well as the next clinician.”
Associate Professor Vikram Palit, Founder and CEO of Consultmed and consultant paediatrician, said:
“When I worked in the NHS, I saw patients using Patients Know Best to engage with their own health information. They came to clinic having read their results and letters, with questions ready. I wanted Australian patients to have that same opportunity.
“As a paediatrician, I know how much uncertainty families face while waiting for specialist care. Knowing that a referral has arrived, understanding what happens next and having access to their letters can make a real difference.
“This partnership brings an internationally established platform to Australia through the clinical connections we have already built. Documents shared through Consultmed can also reach patients securely, without adding another task for the clinician. After all, it is the patient’s health data.”
Patients Know Best (PKB) is the world’s largest personal health record platform solution. It brings together data from health and care providers, along with the patient’s own data, into one secure single patient record. Health systems in the UK and internationally use PKB, with over 9.1 million registered patients. PKB is a social enterprise which is free for patients and paid for by the organisations that provide their care.
Consultmed is a pioneering Australian health technology company that provides a comprehensive suite of digital solutions for e-Referrals, virtual triage, consent, and clinical Advice & Guidance™. Driven by clinicians, Consultmed’s enterprise-grade software streamlines administrative tasks, enhances communication among healthcare providers and optimises the patient pathway for a more efficient and connected healthcare experience.
Key features encompass:
- Digital referral management
- Clinical Advice & Guidance™
- Virtual triage
- Secure inbound and outbound messaging
- Digital forms, reports and consents
These capabilities are complemented by Consultpilot AI - Consultmed’s intelligent AI-powered assistant designed to simplify document handling and automate paper workflows.
Press Inquiries
PKB media contact: press [at] patientsknowbest.com
Consultmed media contact: A/Professor Vikram Palit, Vikram.palit [at] consultmed.co
https://patientsknowbest.com/
