Patients First is in discussions with both primary health organisations and district health boards about using its new hMael healthcare-specific technology to assist with secure communication for projects and applications involving sensitive data that is unsuitable for normal email.

The not-for-profit healthcare IT organisation first launched a production version of hMael just before Christmas, and while individual healthcare practitioners can now join up, Patients First is setting its sights on rolling it out on a project basis involving bulk loads of user details.