Script Assist, the SaaS platform now used by some of the UK’s leading medical cannabis clinics and prescribing doctors, is set to launch a major ground-up overhaul of its platform.
Following an 18-month development, Script Assist is set to launch a comprehensively re-stacked offering for its clinics and pharmacies, alongside an entirely redesigned patient app in what it describes as the most significant update to its system since launch.
While the UK’s medical cannabis sector is one of the fastest-growing on the planet, compared to its stablemates in other private healthcare settings, it has often fallen behind in terms of its adoption of technology and digitisation.
This lag not only exacerbates the outsized demands on prescribing doctors, given their scarcity, but all too often impacts the patient experience.
As the Co-founder and CEO, Ben Hamburger, told Business of Cannabis: “Our industry is so tech-starved… The most common complaint you hear from patients is that the data presented to them via a portal or an Excel file simply isn’t accurate.
“From today (Tuesday 26 August), Partners will feel a step change in speed, performance, and efficiency, and see it in their P&L from day one. The rebuild unlocks genuine one-to-many and many-to-one clinic and pharmacy collaborations and paves the way for digital-pharmacy enhancements and a B2B wholesale marketplace.
“That change alone is going to feel as if the UK’s medical cannabis market is modernising and maturing.”
Script Assist
Founded in 2019, Script Assist (then called Sana Healthcare) initially set out to provide tools for specialist doctors to navigate the complexities of compliance within the latest guidelines from the NHS, NICE and GMC.
Its use throughout UK clinics expanded rapidly over the next few years, as did its offering, incorporating new features and integrated tools to manage everything from onboarding patients to supply chains.
In June 2024, in response to the developing needs of the flourishing market, Script Assist launched a new software as a service (SaaS) platform, enabling clinics to customise the platform for their own needs and branding.
By February this year, Medicann (and its UK subsidiary), CB1 Medical, Cannim, Newgrove and Wellford, to name a few, had integrated the platform.
With each client requiring a personalised version of the stack, Hamburger says that a rebuild of the platform was inevitable.
“The platform was built for private doctors, and since then, we’ve layered on endless adaptations and customisations.
“The further we’ve moved away from that original use case, the further the tech has drifted from what it was built to do. We always knew we would eventually need to rebuild the entire system for what we actually do today, and for what’s next.”
Rebuilt from the ground up
For the last year and a half, Script Assist has been overhauling from the foundations, taking the existing code and restructuring it into a new stack designed specifically for clinics, pharmacies and patients.
This, it says, will significantly improve performance and enable expansion and scalability into new areas, like robotics and wholesale SaaS tools.
“It’s a complete ground-up rebuild. Around 80% of the code was right, but it was all arranged on a platform built for something else. This takes all that code, integrations, and everything else, and rebuilds it in a brand-new stack.”
One of the most significant changes in the new platform is that clinics and pharmacies each have separate, purpose-built toolsets that can network together. The legacy platform is centred on a single clinic–pharmacy workflow, usable either by a clinic with a single digital pharmacy embedded or as a trimmed-down pharmacy-only configuration.
While the interface was designed to smooth over this reality, under the hood, everything still ran through a single clinic–pharmacy workflow. In practice, the rebuilt framework means clinics are no longer tied to a single pharmacy, and a range of different commercial relationships can be supported within the system.
The rebuild also unlocks a series of practical improvements designed to make the platform more flexible, like handling of short-dated stock.
Previously, the system assumed pharmacies would never hold products with less than 30 days’ expiry, which limited flexibility. The rebuild removes that restriction, allowing short-dated products to be managed as separate batches. Clinics can now offer discounted stock, and patients can see expiry dates clearly.
Elsewhere, it seeks to improve the integration of core patient medication record (PMR) functions directly into Script Assist, and following a further update this Autumn, every unit of stock will receive a QR code, enabling guided storage and picking.
Real-time notifications can be triggered for patients as soon as their product is scanned, eliminating the need for separate PMR systems and ensuring inventory is algorithmically managed.
This new stack is set to be rolled out on Tuesday, August 26, alongside an entirely redesigned patient app.
For current users of the ecosystem, Script Assist says the transition should be seamless, recognising that one of the biggest challenges is the migration of users without disruption.
“For doctors in particular, the new stack looks identical to the old stack. It looks prettier, but the flows and layout are completely the same. That was essential because of how many different clinics, doctors, and healthcare professionals use the platform.”
“Everyone transitions on the same day, clinics, pharmacies, patients. There’s no partial migration. It’s a big moment, but it gives us a much stronger platform to build on.”
