Health tech firm to double workforce as it plans to convert disused pub into new HQ
Invatech Health, the innovative health tech business, has announced plans to double staff numbers to 100 as its CEO announced plans to redevelop a disused pub for its new HQ.
Tariq Muhammad, a former community pharmacist and now CEO of Bristol-headquartered Invatech, wants to relocate the business to the site in the Stapleton area of the city.
The proposed redevelopment of the site on Averay Road would see the building converted into eco-offices alongside a community coffee shop and nine flats.
Meanwhile the move would facilitate growth of Invatech from 50 to 100 staff, continuing the rapid growth the company has seen since its latest product was launched five years ago.
Currently located less than a mile away in Easton, Invatech Health is a specialist in creating cutting-edge healthcare software, most notably its patient medication record (PMR) software Titan, which in 2019 became the first cloud-based software for managing medicine dispensing to be accredited by the NHS.
Since then the system has been adopted by nearly 1,000 community and online pharmacies, as well becoming accredited for remote rural dispensing doctor surgeries. Titan is now used to process almost 12% of all prescriptions in the UK.
Muhammad said he expects Titan usage to grow by around 70% per year while focus shifts to rolling out Titanverse, a similarly ground-breaking pharmacy management system.
The innovative platform enables pharmacy chain owners to digitally transfer workloads between separate pharmacies, communicate directly with patients, carry out consultations, manage appointments and promote specialist clinical services.
“We’ve already massively disrupted dispensing in community pharmacy, to the extent that Titan’s methodology is being adopted by our competitors,” he said.
“Now we’ve freed up our pharmacists’ time, we want to give them a product which can help them develop clinical services in their communities. My next mission is to help them carve out that professional, independent model of pharmacy for the future.
“Pharmacists are an underutilised resource with a lot to offer the community, as well as the potential to free up valuable NHS resources. With our technology, we can help pharmacists maximise this opportunity which will improve patient care and reduce NHS costs.. That’s the vision that I’m trying to provide and it’s the focus for the next five years.
“We are rapidly outgrowing our current site and rather than moving to a business park or somewhere in the city centre, I want to remain in the community and provide jobs for local people. I feel this site is the perfect location for the next stage of our business growth.
“I’m expecting us to grow from 50 to 100 staff over the next few years and they deserve a hi-tech centre where we can maximise our innovations, show them off to customers and stakeholders, and put Eastville on the map in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Muhammad has had ties to Easton for 50 years. He spent his younger years living there, attended the nearby school and also establishing his pharmacy business there in 1997, eventually employing more than 400 people.
The base for his company’s future growth is hoped to be the old building on Averay Road which, formerly the Merchants Arms pub, has lain derelict for a decade and was bought by Muhammad in 2022.
The scheme would follow the previous redevelopment of Invatech’s current home on Stapleton Road, which includes the popular Chaiiwala restaurant, as well as Muhammad’s new dentistry health hub and co-living scheme in Bedminster, set to be developed next year.
“We’ve already been a catalyst for positive change at our current home in Easton, creating an area around our current offices which is popular with young families,” he said. “Now I’d like to do the same thing in this part of town, creating a stunning new building of which the community can be proud. It’s time to do something positive with the building.”
