Renfrew Group designed and developed the Virtual Chaperone for Synaptiq Ltd. The system was developed for securely recording ‘one to one’ consultations between a healthcare practitioner and patient or, in fact, for any advice giving professional and their client. The recording is immediately encrypted and archived to provide objective evidence supporting or refuting claims of negligence, misconduct and misunderstanding. It also provides valuable information during informed consent, complicated consultations and when ‘bad’ news is broken to a patient.

Renfrew was commissioned to package the technology within a minimal volume enclosure and to create an object that was non-threatening yet which also imparted an air of authority. Synaptiq requested a small desk footprint and a slim display console for the touch-control screen interface, and we responded with an enclosure, which effectively disguises bulky components through gradual tapering of the adjoining surfaces and resulting in a product, which is confident and contemporary.

Synaptiq is now also developing the ‘clinical black box’, a system that records the data and events from a hospital operating theatre and Renfrew will again be involved from the beginning of the program.