There's no switchboard, no call centre and no crowded waiting room at The Duke Practice. Just Dr Oscar Duke and his PA Patricia, welcoming patients into a discreet corner of Sloane Square that feels more like a well-appointed home than a clinic.

That's entirely by design. Oscar qualified in 2010 and has built a practice around a model of care that is becoming increasingly rare: one doctor who knows you, your family, your stresses and your history. His patients span generations of families, high-net-worth professionals and clients from the film and television industry, all referred in by word of mouth and all expecting the same thing: unhurried, expert, personal care.

"We try to make it a very bespoke, premium private GP service, a bit like an old-fashioned GP in the countryside, but in the centre of London," explains Dr Oscar Duke.

Today, The Duke Practice operates entirely digitally, with Semble at its core. But it wasn't always that way.

The challenge: 50 years of paper and a pandemic on the horizon

When Oscar took over The Duke Practice, it had been running for over 50 years and the records to prove it lined the shelves in paper files. Lab bottle labels were handwritten, referral letters typed manually and every administrative task pulled Oscar's attention away from the patients in front of him.

"I didn't become a doctor to fill in forms," says Dr Duke.

The practice was built on exceptional personal care, but the infrastructure behind it hadn't caught up. Dr Duke was determined to put technology at the heart of the practice from the start. As it turned out, the timing couldn't have been better - when the pandemic hit, having patient records securely accessible from anywhere proved invaluable.

The insight: Care is an art, not a science

Dr Duke's philosophy about medicine shapes everything about how The Duke Practice runs. He believes that the best consultations happen not when a doctor is typing at a computer but when they are truly listening, and that 90% of any diagnosis comes from the patient's own story.

"Continuity of care is so important. I can give advice in the context of a patient's whole life, because I genuinely know and understand it. I know who their carer might be, what the stress is at home, what their children are going through," explains Dr Duke.

That context is also what sets expectations for the kind of patients The Duke Practice attracts. High-profile clients from the entertainment industry, busy professionals, families who have been coming for years: these patients expect their doctor to be ahead of the curve, not just clinically but technologically, too.

"Those sorts of patients expect you and the patient experience you're providing to be able to evolve as technology evolves," explains Dr Duke. "It gives them that reassurance that you're taking the lead on cutting-edge technologies."

The technology, in Dr Duke's view, should never intrude on that relationship. It should simply make the care better, faster and more personal, invisibly.

The solution: Technology in service of care

Dr Duke was an early adopter of Semble, having used the platform at a previous practice - back when it was still known by its original name, Heydoc. He'd watched it evolve and trusted where it was heading. When he took over The Duke Practice in 2018-19, the decision to move to Semble was straightforward.

"We were really fortunate to have moved on to using Semble, having all of our patient records online before the pandemic. It made them accessible to me securely wherever I was. I don't think we could have managed without it," says Dr Duke.

The shift from paper to Semble was fast. Everything that arrived at the practice digitally - reports from consultants, specialist letters, test results - could now be uploaded directly into a patient's record and searched in seconds. The nostalgic charm of paper files gave way to something far more useful: a complete, organised and instantly accessible patient history.

Keeping patients in the room

For Dr Duke, one of the greatest costs of a paper-based system wasn't efficiency. It was attention. Every moment spent writing labels, filling in forms or hunting through files was a moment not spent with a patient. Semble changed that calculation across the practice.

Dr Duke takes blood tests himself in the consulting room, a deliberate choice to keep patients from joining another queue. With Semble's lab integration, test requests are sent directly to the lab, and labels print automatically - removing the handwritten process entirely.

"The speed increase in terms of time and accuracy, and therefore patient safety, is significant," says Dr Duke. "I can now use a form through Semble, which saves time that I would otherwise have to spend not concentrating on the patient."

When it's time for results, patients receive them through the Semble patient portal alongside a plain-English report from Dr Duke explaining what the findings mean, what needs attention and what happens next. They can return to those results at any time, including when they're with a specialist and want to share what's been done before.

"It's always been well received by patients," he comments.

Referrals that happen in hours, not days

Dr Duke uses AI tools during consultations to handle documentation, meaning he can give patients his complete attention without losing a single clinical detail. The real-world impact of this shows up most clearly in referrals.

"As soon as the patient leaves the room, that referral letter can be ready to go to their specialist consultant. We can get them seeing the best specialist, often within hours," explains Dr Duke.

For patients whose schedules leave little room for waiting, that speed matters enormously.

Care beyond the clinic walls

A significant part of Dr Duke's practice takes him away from Sloane Square entirely. He regularly visits patients at home or on film sets, and the confidentiality and discretion required for clients with a public profile make reliable, secure access to records essential.

Semble's app means that patient records, lab requests and prescriptions are always available, wherever Dr Duke is.

"Having all of our patient records online made them accessible to me securely wherever I was. If I'm out and about, the access to Semble to write prescriptions is invaluable," says Dr Duke.

Running a practice, not just a surgery

Behind the scenes, Semble supports the compliance and regulatory requirements that come with running a CQC-registered practice, from audit reporting to prescription monitoring and pharmacy integrations. Patricia, Dr Duke's PA, had never used Semble before joining the practice. She took to it immediately.

"If you can use a website, then you can use Semble. You can almost always just work it out," says Dr Duke.

That ease of use matters in a small practice where every minute counts. Time saved on admin for Patricia, like time saved for Dr Duke, means more time where it belongs: with patients.

"Time back always means that I can give more time to patients. That's why I became a doctor," says Dr Duke.

Semble itself has continued to evolve throughout Dr Duke's time using it, with new features and integrations arriving on a near-weekly basis. For a doctor who sees technology as a long-term investment in his patients rather than a short-term fix, that matters.

"It just feels to me like it gets better all of the time. There's a really responsive culture to suggestions. Ideas I've suggested, I've certainly seen come through," explains Dr Duke.

The result is a practice where the technology is effectively invisible. Patients don't notice the system. They notice the exceptional service.

"It should be things that patients don't see. They just notice the excellent service that they're receiving," says Dr Duke.