Frequently asked questions

Getting started with DR COMPASS is straightforward:

• Contact us: Send an enquiry through our website or contact us directly.
• Initial call: We arrange a call to understand your organisation's needs.
• Personalised discussion: We discuss the areas most relevant to your clinical needs.
• Proposal: We provide a tailored proposal including pricing and implementation plan.

The process typically takes 1–2 weeks from initial inquiry to proposal.

When you submit an enquiry:

• Acknowledgement: You'll receive confirmation of your enquiry.
• Review: Our team will review your message and enquiry type.
• Response: We will get back to you as soon as we can.
• Next steps: We may request more information or arrange a call if helpful.

Implementation typically takes 4–8 weeks from contract signature to go-live, depending on your setup and integration requirements.

Typical timeline:

• Week 1: Contract, access provisioning, initial setup.
• Weeks 2–3: System configuration, integration setup, user accounts.
• Weeks 4–5: Staff training and onboarding.
• Week 6: Testing and user acceptance.
• Weeks 7–8: Go-live and post-launch support.

Faster implementations are possible for simpler setups with fewer integration requirements.

DR COMPASS helps close the gap between clinical guidelines and real-world practice:

• Guideline concordance: Ensures recommendations align with national guidelines, ESC, KDIGO and other authoritative guidance.
• Time-saving: Reduces time spent on decision-making and guideline research during consultations.
• Complete audit trail: Every recommendation and clinical decision is logged for quality assurance.
• Transparent logic: Deterministic, explainable recommendations.
• Clinical safety: Reduces prescribing errors and missed opportunities for guideline-directed therapy.
• Quality improvement: Enables benchmarking and identification of practice improvement opportunities.

Studies show significant gaps between clinical guidelines and real-world prescribing. Often 30–50% of eligible patients miss guideline-directed therapies.

Common reasons include:

• Time pressure during consultations.
• Guideline complexity and frequent updates.
• Polypharmacy concerns in patients with multiple conditions.
• Lack of decision support at the point of care.
• Difficulty keeping up with evidence across multiple specialties.

DR COMPASS addresses this by surfacing actionable, patient-specific recommendations during consultations, closing the gap between what guidelines recommend and what happens in practice.

DR COMPASS currently covers six primary care domains with 188 evidence-based recommendations:

• Type 2 Diabetes: including GLP-1 agonists, SGLT2 inhibitors, tirzepatide pathways.
• Hypertension: blood pressure management and risk reduction.
• Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD): detection, staging, and risk stratification.
• Heart Failure: diagnosis, optimisation, and monitoring.
• ASCVD / Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: lipid and risk-factor management.
• Atrial Fibrillation: anticoagulation and rate or rhythm control.

These focus on cardiometabolic and renal conditions where treatment gaps are largest in UK primary care.

Contact us to discuss coverage for your practice or specific clinical scenarios.

No. DR COMPASS uses deterministic, rule-based clinical logic, not AI or machine learning.

• Fully explainable: Every recommendation is traceable to specific clinical guidelines.
• No "black box": You can see exactly why a recommendation was made.
• Predictable: The same inputs always produce the same outputs.
• Auditable: Complete transparency for clinical governance and regulatory compliance.

This is a deliberate design choice for clinical safety and regulatory compliance.

Yes, DR COMPASS is safe. Safety is designed into every aspect:

• Transparent logic: Deterministic, rule-based logic means every recommendation is explainable and traceable.
• Complete audit trail: Every recommendation, override, and decision is logged.
• Clinician override: You always have ultimate authority to override any recommendation.
• Clinical validation: Rigorous validation for safety and efficacy.
• Regulatory compliance: Meets UK medical device regulations, DCB0129, and NHS Digital security standards.
• Evidence-based: All recommendations based on peer-reviewed clinical guidelines.
• Continuous monitoring: We monitor outcomes and actively seek feedback.

DR COMPASS is a decision support tool designed to assist your clinical judgement, not replace it.

Clinical judgement remains with the clinician. You should always apply your professional expertise.

If you disagree with a recommendation:

• Override: You can override any recommendation at any time.
• Document: Overrides are logged with a free-text rationale for later review.
• Report: Flag clinical concerns through our support system so we can review.
• Responsibility: You remain responsible for all clinical decisions. Your expertise and patient knowledge take precedence.

Your feedback helps us improve DR COMPASS for all users.

When clinical guidelines change:

• Monitoring: Our clinical team continuously monitors authoritative sources.
• Clinical review: All changes are reviewed before implementation.
• Versioning: Updates are tracked with version numbers; previous versions remain accessible.
• User notification: You're notified of material changes, typically with advance warning.
• Release notes: Detailed documentation explains what changed and why.
• Transition support: For significant changes, we provide guidance and retraining if needed.

Clinical decisions are your responsibility. DR COMPASS assists your judgement; it doesn't replace it.

• Your authority: You remain responsible for all clinical decisions.
• Override logging: Every override is logged with timestamp, providing a complete record.
• Documentation: We recommend documenting your reasoning in patient records.
• Professional defence: The audit trail provides documentation for professional defence if needed.

By using DR COMPASS and applying your professional judgement, you're practising in line with clinical best practice.

DR COMPASS works on all modern devices and browsers:

• Browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge (latest versions).
• Devices: Desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.
• Operating systems: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
• Connection: Broadband internet recommended for best performance.
• Optimisation: Optimised for desktop clinical use and mobile/tablet use in consultation rooms.

Yes. DR COMPASS integrates with most major NHS systems.

• EHR/EMR systems: Integration with common NHS practice management and clinical systems.
• APIs: RESTful APIs for custom integrations.
• Data standards: Support for HL7, FHIR, and other healthcare data standards.
• Single sign-on: Integration with your existing authentication systems.
• Secure connection: All integrations use encrypted, secure connections.

We assess integration requirements during implementation planning and work with your IT team to design an appropriate solution.

• Typical response: Under 2 seconds for most user actions (95th percentile).
• Concurrent users: Handles multiple concurrent users without performance degradation.
• Continuous optimisation: We continuously monitor and optimise response times.
• Network dependent: Performance depends partly on your internet connection quality.

We release updates regularly to improve features, incorporate new guidelines, and fix issues:

• Frequency: Typically monthly, with critical security updates as needed.
• Minimal disruption: Updates deployed outside working hours where possible.
• Advance notification: You receive notification of planned updates with details of what is changing.
• Transition support: For major updates requiring user action, we provide retraining if needed.
• Backwards compatibility: Maintained where possible.

• Target uptime: We target 99.5% system availability throughout the year.
• 24/7 monitoring: Continuous monitoring around the clock.
• Redundancy: Redundant systems minimise the risk of outages.
• Incident response: If an outage occurs, our team responds immediately with updates every 15–30 minutes.
• Disaster recovery: Automated daily backups and disaster recovery procedures.
• Maintenance windows: Planned maintenance is scheduled during off-peak hours with advance notice.

Yes, we provide comprehensive training:

• Initial onboarding: Face-to-face training at each deployment site.
• Challenge your prescribing: Test your knowledge with guideline-based clinical scenarios across complexity tiers.
• Practice Simulator: (Coming soon) Full patient modelling to explore all clinical pathways.
• Video tutorials: Online training materials for ongoing support.
• Documentation: User guides and quick reference materials.

Delivery options: on-site (at your practice), remote (online sessions), or hybrid. Training typically takes 2–4 hours per person. We are exploring CPD/PDA accreditation for training hours.

No. DR COMPASS can be used by clinical and non-clinical staff.

Who can use it:

• Clinical staff: GPs, nurses, pharmacists, ANPs, and other clinicians.
• Healthcare assistants: Can input data (vitals, bloods, etc.) under clinical supervision. DR COMPASS then surfaces recommendations for clinician review.
• Managers & commissioners: For reporting, analytics, and quality improvement.

Non-clinical staff use DR COMPASS under clinical supervision. Clinical responsibility remains with qualified clinicians.

Staff turnover is normal, so we make onboarding easy:

• New staff training: We provide training for any new team members.
• Flexible delivery: Remote or on-site.
• Self-service materials: Training videos and guides you can share internally.
• Duration: 2–4 hours per person.

We have a dedicated support team:

• Contact: Email enquiries@drcompass.co.uk or use the in-app help button.
• Critical issues: Within 1 hour (blocking clinical work).
• High priority: Within 4 hours.
• Standard requests: Within 1 business day.
• Support hours: 8 AM – 6 PM, Monday–Friday (escalation available for urgent issues).

We welcome feedback:

• Email: enquiries@drcompass.co.uk
• Contact form: Via our website.
• In-app: Help/feedback button within DR COMPASS.

When reporting an issue, include: description of the problem, when it occurred (date/time), steps to reproduce (if applicable), and any error messages.

Standard pricing includes:

• System access and hosting.
• Clinical guideline updates and maintenance.
• User support and technical help.
• Initial training and onboarding.
• Regular backups and security monitoring.
• Analytics and reporting tools.

Additional costs may apply for:

• Custom integrations with your systems.
• Dedicated on-site training programmes.
• Custom feature development.

All costs are transparent upfront, with no hidden fees.

DR COMPASS provides comprehensive reporting:

• Patient reports: Recommendation reports (PDF) for each case.
• Audit trails: Complete log of recommendations, overrides, and decisions.
• Usage analytics: Recommendation patterns, acceptance rates, override reasons.
• Compliance reports: Audit-ready reports for regulatory inspection.
• Benchmarking: Compare your practice against peers.
• Treatment gap analysis: Identify improvement opportunities by ICB or practice.

Reports are exportable in PDF, CSV, and Excel formats.

Yes, you can export your data at any time.

• Regular export: Export patient reports, audit trails, and aggregated data on demand.
• Data ownership: You retain full ownership and control.
• Portable formats: PDF, CSV, Excel.
• GDPR compliance: Export requests processed per GDPR requirements.

If you discontinue:

• We export all your data in structured formats.
• Transition support provided.
• Data archived securely for the defined retention period.

We're committed to DR COMPASS for the long term. However, we understand your concerns:

• Long-term commitment: Active ongoing development and sustainable business model.
• Notice period: In the unlikely event of discontinuation, substantial notice (typically 12 months).
• Data export: All data exported in portable formats.
• Transition support: Support transitioning to alternatives.
• Service continuation: System remains available during transition.

DR COMPASS is currently designed for UK primary care and NHS workflows.

We are exploring expansion to other markets, including Spain. Contact us if you're interested in international deployment.

DR COMPASS is designed for primary care settings:

• Clinical staff: GPs, practice nurses, ANPs, clinical pharmacists.
• Healthcare assistants: Under clinical supervision.
• ICBs & commissioners: For pathway development, audit, quality improvement.
• Practice managers: For reporting and analytics.

Particularly useful for multi-disciplinary teams working together on guideline adherence.

No. DR COMPASS is independent and guideline-driven:

• Independence: No pharmaceutical industry influence.
• Guideline-driven: Recommendations based solely on peer-reviewed guidelines.
• No conflicts: No financial relationships that could bias recommendations.
• Transparency: We're transparent about our sources and funding.

This ensures recommendations serve patients and clinicians, not commercial interests.

Yes, we welcome collaborations:

• Academic partnerships: With universities and research institutions.
• Clinical research: Supporting validation studies.
• Quality improvement: Joint QI initiatives.
• Pilot programmes: Flexible arrangements for pilot sites.

Contact us to discuss your research needs.

DR COMPASS distinguishes itself through:

• Transparency: Explainable rule-based logic, not black-box AI.
• MediMap: Unique visual mapping of clinical tasks and pathways.
• Complete audit trail: Every recommendation and override logged.
• Clinician override: Full authority to override any recommendation.
• Independence: No pharmaceutical partnerships.
• NHS-focused: Designed specifically for NHS primary care.
• Regulatory compliance: DCB0129 compliant, meets NHS Digital standards.

Data protection is a core priority:

• Encryption: TLS 1.3 in transit, AES-256 at rest.
• GDPR compliance: Full compliance with UK Data Protection Act 2018.
• Access control: Role-based access; all access logged and auditable.
• Data location: UK-based only (Azure UK South/West).
• Data ownership: You retain full ownership.
• No data sharing: We never share or sell patient data.
• Security testing: Regular penetration testing.

GDPR data subject requests (deletion, access, etc.) are:

• Acknowledged: Within 48 hours.
• Processed: Within the statutory timeframe (typically 30 days).

Contact dataprotection@drcompass.co.uk for any data protection queries.

Comprehensive audit trails for compliance:

• All user actions: Logged with timestamp and user ID.
• Recommendations: Every recommendation generated, with clinical parameters.
• Overrides: Every override with rationale.
• Data access: All patient data access logged.
• Immutable: Logs cannot be altered.
• Retention: Minimum 8 years (NHS requirements).

DR COMPASS meets/seeks to stringent regulatory requirements including:

• DCB0129: Clinical Risk Management for Health IT Manufacturers.
• DCB0160: Support pack provided to deploying organisations.
• NHS DSPT: Data Security & Protection Toolkit.
• GDPR: UK Data Protection Act 2018.
• Cyber Essentials Plus: Certified security posture.
• Clinical validation: Rigorous validation for safety and efficacy.
• MHRA: Complies with UK medical device regulations.

DR COMPASS is built to meet the highest standards for NHS deployment.