It was four years ago that Burwood HealthCare in Melbourne decided to build its own in-house system to allow patients to check themselves in using kiosks that were then new-fangled but are now commonplace, not just in general practice but in hospitals too.

For Burwood, the driving force was a need to increase patient numbers without adding extra reception staff, as the practice couldn't physically fit another person in. Since then, practice owner Peter Demaio and his team have built extra functionality into their system and about two years ago decided to commercialise it, setting up AutoMed Systems and offering the technology to other practices while still using Burwood as the guinea pig.