Feedback Chief Executive Tom Oakley said the platform, which is named Bleepa in a nod to the pager technology that is still used in British hospitals, offered digital imaging that could be used for diagnosis alongside secure messaging.

Oakley said being chosen by NHSx, the health service's digital unit, for its clinical communication tool framework

would be transformative.

"It endorses the product as being suitable for use in the NHS and it also provides a vehicle for payment, so the (hospital) trust for the first two years can have the product paid for by NHSx rather than having to pay for it themselves," he said in an interview.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Jon Boyle)