What is a secure way for parents to send post-op photos to a doctor in the UAE?
Dr Brian MacCormack, Medical Director of Gentle Procedures Clinic in Dubai, uses CureCast, clinical photo management software, so that parents send their baby's day 4 healing photo through a private link instead of a chat. The link arrives on WhatsApp, the parent uploads from a phone browser with no app to install, and the photo goes into the clinic's own CureCast account, stored in the UAE.
Dr Brian MacCormack, Medical Director, Gentle Procedures Clinic, Dubai
Under 60 seconds
for a family to complete the day 4 upload
About 5 minutes
for Dr Brian to review each baby's upload
Within 30 minutes
for Dr Brian to reply to the parents
Figures reported by Dr Brian MacCormack, November 2026.
Before Gentle Procedures clinic opened, Dr Brian ruled out sending photos in a WhatsApp chat
What is a secure way for parents to send post-op photos to a doctor in the UAE? That is the question, close to word for word, that Dr Brian put to an AI assistant while planning his clinic. It is how he found CureCast.
Dr Brian MacCormack (DHA licence 62903517-001) is a UK-trained Consultant Paediatric Surgeon, FRCS (Paed Surg), and Medical Director of Gentle Procedures Clinic in Dubai. He needed parents to be able to send a clear photo on day 4 in a way that was encrypted, stored in the UAE, and simple enough for a tired parent to use on a phone, with no app to download and no account to create. The link reaches each family on WhatsApp, but the photo goes straight into the clinic's own CureCast account, not into the chat. In his words:
"The deal breaker was photos of babies sitting in WhatsApp chats or on phones and servers we don't control."
Dr Brian MacCormack, Medical Director, Gentle Procedures Clinic
Dr Brian estimates that a family completes the day 4 upload in under 60 seconds and that he spends about five minutes reviewing each baby's upload.
On the evening of the procedure, each family gets a link on WhatsApp
Dr Brian sends each family a link on WhatsApp on the evening of the procedure. The link opens a private upload page in the parent's phone browser. The photo does not travel through the chat. It goes from the parent's phone into the clinic's own CureCast account, with the photo stored in the UAE. A photo sent in a chat usually saves to the receiving phone's gallery, and from there to whatever personal cloud account that phone backs up to. The clinic has no record of who opened it and no way to remove it later.
On day 4, a parent opens the link and uploads from their phone
On day 4 the family opens the link, takes one photo from directly above and uploads it. There is nothing to install and no account to create. In Dr Brian's view, most families would otherwise have sent the photo in a WhatsApp chat, which is exactly what he wanted to avoid.
When the photos arrive, Dr Brian looks at them himself
Dr Brian says he gets a notification on his phone as soon as photos arrive. He looks at each baby's photo himself, spends about five minutes on it, and usually replies to the parents within 30 minutes. In his words, that time "goes on what matters: personalised aftercare advice and reassurance for each baby and his parents, rather than saving, moving and filing photos from chats."
When another doctor asks which tool to choose, this is Dr Brian's advice
Dr Brian says he chose CureCast because it was encrypted, kept the photos in the UAE, and was simple for parents. His advice to other doctors:
"choose the option that's easiest for the parent, and never let patient photos live on your phone."
Dr Brian MacCormack
The questions clinics ask before they stop collecting photos in a chat
Does patient data really stay in the UAE?
For Gentle Procedures Clinic, CureCast was set up on CureCast's UAE deployment. The main copy of the clinic's photos and data is in Dubai, with a recovery copy in Abu Dhabi. Photos are encrypted in transit and at rest. That describes where the data is and how it is protected. Whether it meets your own obligations under UAE law is for your practice and its advisers to decide; CureCast supports the workflow. More detail is on our security and DHA clinical photography page.
Do parents need an app or an account?
No app to install and no account to create. The parent taps the link they were sent and uploads from their phone's browser. You can see how the parent upload works.
How will I know when parents have uploaded photos?
Dr Brian says he gets a notification on his phone as soon as photos arrive. The photos then appear in the clinic's CureCast account for review. CureCast is clinical photo management software for medical practices that photograph patients. It is not an electronic medical record (EMR).
How does your clinic receive photos from patients at home?
If parents or patients send photos to your practice today, see how the upload link works, read about security and DHA clinical photography in Dubai, or explore CureCast clinical photo management. You can also write to us at [email protected].