NHS trialling app to tackle missed appointments

IN ALL, 93% of people use the internet to shop, bank and communicate with their family. Meanwhile, hospitals rely on paper, spreadsheets and manual processes. A new trial in 10 hospitals will allow patients to be able to book and change medical appointments online, receive text reminders and even access maps showing where in a hospital to go through a digital patient tool.

The online portal, DrDoctor, is set to save the NHS tens of millions of pounds by slashing the number of missed appointments as well as making it easier and more convenient for patients to make and manage bookings. Patients can also fill in medical forms before they arrive using the system and receive appointment letters digitally.

DrDoctor is being used in 10 hospitals including Frimley Health NHS Trust. Frimley Health has 800 beds and sees around 500,000 patients per year. Before DrDoctor came onboard, Frimley Health booking centres were sending text message reminders and follow-up calls. The team wanted to improve patient services despite ongoing financial pressures on the NHS. This meant achieving annual efficiency savings of at least 4%.

Frimley Health achieved these outcomes as patients can now self-manage their care thanks to DrDoctor automating the clinic booking, rescheduling and reminder system.

Patients choose to receive confirmations and reminders online, by text message, or email. If they are no longer able to make an appointment, they can view other available times, select an alternative that works for them, book it, and receive a confirmation.

All of this is done without any phone calls and is fully integrated with the patient administration system at Frimley Health.

The Trust now has much happier patients and a solid technology base to build on.

Dr Sam Roberts, director of innovation and life sciences at NHS England, said: “The NHS is always open to new technologies and today we have put our money behind our intentions by directly funding these tools.

“Promising innovations often struggle to gather the evidence they need to enable their rollout in the NHS, which is why it so important we have programmes like this to allow us to gather the evidence we need to help spread the use of new technologies that can save money and improve care for patients.”

DrDoctor is being funded through NHS England’s Innovation and Technology Payment programme which is also funding four other innovations including:

HeartFlow – Advanced image analysis software that creates a 3D model of the coronary arteries and analyses the impact that blockages have on blood flow to rapidly diagnose patients with suspected coronary artery disease. The use of the device can avoid the need for invasive investigations.

Plus Sutures – A new type of surgical stitching that reduces the rate surgical site infection such as MRSA.

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