NHS to send fewer letters under Labour, says Streeting

THE NHS would send fewer letters under Labour amid concerns that Royal Mail delays are making patients miss appointments.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said he would overhaul the health service’s “analogue” method of communicating with patients and save the more than £200 million a year the NHS spends on posting letters.

Mr Streeting told the Royal Mail’s proposals to cut letter deliveries to just three days a week “must now be a wake up call” for the NHS to move into a “digital age”.

Royal Mail proposed reducing sec- ond-class letter deliveries to every other day to cut costs, but faced a backlash from NHS chiefs over fears that further delays to letter deliveries would risk patient safety.

Mr Streeting said: “NHS leaders should be asking why on earth the NHS is still spending £200 million a year on paper and postage? Jeremy Hunt promised to turn the NHS paperless a decade ago.” The MP for Ilford North told

that “many patients have experienced the frustration of missing appointments because the letter arrives too late in the post”.

“For a more convenient experience for patients, less waste for the NHS, and better value for taxpayers, Labour will bring our analogue health service into the digital age.”

He said Labour would reform the NHS app to allow all patients to manage appointments directly. The app currently allows this in some instances but patient experience varies drastically depending on the hospital and service.

Around 2.5 million of the eight million appointments that are not attended by patients each year occur because people are receiving letters after the appointment is meant to have taken place, according to think tank Healthwatch England.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said that Labour will bring ‘our analogue health service into the digital age’