Why we built Phlo Connect: A founder’s story
Neal Archbold
Chief Business Development Officer
November 27, 2025
|
10 minute read
When we first started building Phlo, our mission was clear: make accessing medication simpler, faster, and more transparent for patients across the UK. We wanted to prove that digital healthcare could be safe, compliant, and genuinely patient-centred.
But to make that vision real, we had to create everything ourselves — the technology, clinical processes, logistics systems, and regulatory frameworks. We learned, sometimes the hard way, just how complex it is to deliver safe digital prescribing and pharmacy fulfilment at scale.
As we grew, something became obvious. The challenges we faced weren’t unique to us. Every healthcare provider or digital health startup looking to offer similar services was hitting the same roadblocks. They were spending months (or even years) rebuilding the same systems, navigating regulations, and trying to integrate pharmacy fulfilment into their patient journeys.
That’s when the idea for Phlo Connect was born.
We realised that the infrastructure we had built for ourselves could help others too. If we could open up our technology, clinical expertise, and processes to partners, we could help accelerate innovation across the digital healthcare landscape.
Phlo Connect was created to do exactly that.
When you’ve already solved a problem, it makes little sense to watch others start from scratch. Our digital pharmacy technology was powering thousands of prescriptions safely every week, supported by an experienced clinical team and strong governance processes.
So, instead of keeping that capability locked inside Phlo, we decided to share it.
Phlo Connect enables healthcare providers to build on top of our proven digital healthcare infrastructure. Through our secure, API-first platform, partners can integrate prescribing, pharmacy fulfilment, and patient care into their own services without having to build or maintain that complexity internally.
The goal was simple: make it easier for others to benefit from what we had already built. By reusing our technology and processes, partners can move faster, avoid costly pitfalls, and focus on delivering exceptional care to their patients.
Behind the code and APIs sits something even more valuable: our people. Our clinicians, pharmacists, and engineers work together every day to ensure every prescription is safe, compliant, and delivered on time. That deep experience underpins everything we share through Phlo Connect.
Building in digital healthcare is never just about technology. It’s about trust, safety, and compliance.
Every provider we spoke to told us the same thing: they wanted to innovate, but were held back by the operational and regulatory burden that comes with delivering care digitally. Whether it was maintaining clinical oversight, meeting data protection standards, or navigating CQC, GPhC, and NHS guidance, the barriers to entry were high.
Phlo Connect was designed to remove those barriers.
We built a model where partners can leverage our regulatory infrastructure while keeping their own clinical identity intact. That means less time spent on compliance paperwork and more time focused on patients.
Our partners don’t need to worry about managing pharmacy logistics, handling controlled medications, or maintaining delivery networks. We take care of that operational layer so they can concentrate on what really matters: improving health outcomes.
By removing friction from the system, we help healthcare providers deliver faster, safer, and more connected care. It’s about turning innovation from a regulatory challenge into a scalable reality.
Everything we build at Phlo Connect is rooted in one belief: technology should enable better care, not get in the way of it.
Digital healthcare has enormous potential to make care more accessible, equitable, and efficient. But without the right infrastructure, even the most innovative ideas can struggle to reach patients.
Our mission is to empower partners to launch, scale, and deliver digital healthcare services quickly, easily, and safely. That might mean a telemedicine provider looking to fulfil prescriptions nationwide, a private clinic offering digital follow-up care, or a retail health brand integrating online consultations into its offering.
With Phlo Connect, these organisations can go from concept to live service in a fraction of the time. They can build on technology that’s been tried, tested, and trusted, while keeping full visibility and control of their patient journey.
When we see a partner’s digital healthcare platform go live and start helping real patients, it’s incredibly rewarding. It means more people can access care when they need it, where they need it — and that’s what drives us forward.
From the very beginning, we wanted Phlo Connect to stand for something different in the world of digital healthcare technology. We didn’t want to be just another vendor. We wanted to be a true partner.
Too often in this industry, technology providers take a transactional approach: here’s our product, here’s the API, good luck integrating it. But healthcare doesn’t work that way. Every organisation is unique, with its own clinical workflows, brand, and ambitions. To make technology work in this space, collaboration is essential.
We’ve built Phlo Connect as a partnership-first platform. That means we work closely with every organisation we collaborate with — from early discovery through to integration, testing, and scaling. We bring not only our technology but also our expertise, insights, and lessons learned from years of powering digital healthcare across the UK.
This collaborative model ensures every partner gets a solution that truly fits their needs. It also helps us continuously improve. Each new partnership challenges us to think differently, refine our platform, and raise the bar for what great digital healthcare infrastructure should look like.
Our goal is not just to support our partners’ success, but to set a new standard for how healthcare partnerships should work: transparent, collaborative, and focused on shared outcomes.
Phlo Connect was never intended to serve one type of organisation. We see it as a platform that can power the entire digital healthcare ecosystem.
Our partners come from across the healthcare landscape:
By offering a single, trusted platform that covers prescribing, pharmacy fulfilment, and patient engagement, we help all of these organisations grow faster while reducing risk.
And when they grow, so does the broader healthcare ecosystem.
We’re proud that our platform has already helped launch new digital healthcare propositions that might otherwise have taken years to reach patients. Each new integration represents progress — another step towards a more connected, accessible, and patient-centred healthcare system.
Trust is the currency of healthcare. Without it, technology can’t succeed, no matter how advanced.
That’s why everything we do at Phlo Connect is built on a foundation of clinical and operational integrity. From our data protection frameworks to our nationwide pharmacy network, every layer of our platform is designed to uphold patient safety and privacy.
We’ve invested heavily in creating systems that don’t just meet compliance standards but exceed them. Our partners can have full confidence that their patients’ care is being delivered safely, securely, and consistently.
That trust extends to how we work with our partners too. We believe in openness, transparency, and accountability. When you partner with Phlo Connect, you’re not buying a product — you’re joining a team that’s as invested in your success as you are.
The digital healthcare landscape is evolving faster than ever. From AI-assisted diagnosis to remote patient monitoring and personalised medicine, innovation is accelerating across every part of the care journey. But no matter how advanced the technology becomes, it still needs strong, reliable foundations.
That’s where we see Phlo Connect playing an even greater role in the years ahead. Our goal is to continue expanding the platform to meet the needs of tomorrow’s healthcare providers. That means deeper integration, broader capabilities, and continued investment in scalability, compliance, and data interoperability.
We want to make it as simple as possible for healthcare organisations to bring new ideas to life — safely, quickly, and with confidence. Because when innovation becomes accessible, the entire system benefits.
Digital healthcare is no longer a future vision. It’s happening now. And we’re proud that Phlo Connect is helping to build the infrastructure that makes it possible.
Looking back, the decision to open up our technology to others was one of the most important we’ve ever made. What started as an internal capability has grown into a collaborative platform that supports healthcare providers, patients, and innovators across the UK.
But our mission isn’t finished. There’s still more to do to make digital healthcare faster, safer, and more connected for everyone.
Phlo Connect exists to make that journey easier. We believe that by sharing what we’ve learned and continuing to build in partnership with others, we can help shape a healthcare system that truly works for patients and the people who care for them.
That’s what drives us every day — and it’s why we built Phlo Connect.
Phlo Connect is the digital healthcare infrastructure platform from Phlo Technologies. We help healthcare providers and innovators deliver safe, compliant, and scalable digital care through our API-first prescribing and pharmacy fulfilment technology.
