An operating theatre scheduling platform has been rolled out across all health boards in Scotland – paving the way for significant NHS productivity enhancements across the country.
Infix, which optimises the scheduling of surgical theatres, improving efficiency and productivity, and recovering lost theatre capacity, is now live in 14 regional health boards and the NHS Golden Jubilee hospital in Glasgow.
It is the first national scale deployment of its kind in the UK. Infix Schedule, Infix’s main product, uses probabilistic modelling to optimise the scheduling of surgical theatres, improving efficiency and productivity, and recovering lost theatre capacity. It’s thought the platform could help drive efficiency savings of around 20 per cent.
Dr Matthew Freer, CEO and co-founder of Infix, said: “Our technology gives NHS Scotland nationwide coverage with a system designed by clinicians and built inside the NHS to fix one of its most persistent problems, namely operating theatre capacity lost to inefficient scheduling.”
He added: “I started Infix because, as a clinician, I could see theatre time being lost to a problem that was fixable. Completing a national rollout in such a relatively short timeframe is testament not only to our team, but also to the digital and operational teams across NHS Scotland who helped make it happen – importantly, they didn’t just adopt the technology, they helped shape it.”
Recent research led by Jaideep Pandit, professor of anaesthesia at the University of Oxford and a globally recognised authority on operating theatre efficiency, evaluated thousands of NHS Scotland surgical lists. He found that Infix Schedule predicted theatre utilisation far more accurately than traditional surgeon-led booking, while reducing patient cancellations and helping avoid theatre overruns, outcomes that can result in more patients treated, shorter waits and better use of NHS resources.
Infix recently opened its first international office in Abu Dhabi and is set to announce a multi-year contract with one of the largest hospital operators in the Gulf region, the first step in Infix’s international expansion strategy.
Dr Freer said: “What we’ve proven in Scotland travels. Lost theatre capacity is a global problem, and health systems everywhere are asking the same question – how do we improve productivity within operating rooms without increasing capacity and staff? Taking a solution built inside the NHS to the UAE, and beyond, is the natural next step.”
Infix secured a six-figure investment round at the end of 2025 and has made a number of senior hires over the last twelve months as it scales for international growth.
The company is also keen to help with the Scottish Government plan to reconfigure Scotland’s NHS into two strategic health boards. Dr Freer added: “Infix is in a unique position to support the integration because there is no other existing system that can bring all the waiting list data into one place.”