East Lancashire Hospitals Trust now offer patient digital letters!
6 June 2018 reported by Lancashire Times
Patients can now receive appointment letters directly to their mobile phone from the new digital platform introduced at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust.
The new digital letters will be issued to all outpatients who have registered a mobile phone number with the hospital. Patients who still prefer a postal appointment letter can make staff aware and their communications preference will be changed.
East Lancashire Hospitals Trust said the new system ‘greatly improves’ the patients’ experience. Patients can now confirm, rearrange or cancel the appointment with 1 click, alleviating the time consuming task of phoning the hospital to respond.
Once confirmed, the appointment can be added directly into the patients digital calendar, aiming to reduce the risk of forgetting their appointment.
The letter also includes a real time home to hospital map with live traffic info to mitigate patients from travel delays.
John Bannister, director of operations at the trust, said:
“We are really excited to launch this new system. It will make the appointment process easier for our patients giving them all the information they need at their fingertips.
The system is interactive enabling instant control to accept, cancel or rearrange appointments, as well as the ability to translate the letters in to multiple languages (99 options). Overall it is a better, much smoother system which will enhance the patient experience.”
How it works
Patients receive a text to their mobile phone with a secure link and four-digit PIN. To access the letter, patients click the link to their secure access page, enter the PIN and date of birth and their appointment letter appears.
As well as their appointment date and time the letter also include pre-clinic instructions, essential reading and hospital information.
Patients can also save the letter to their phone, email it to others including employers to arrange time off work and print it out.
Can all patients go digital?
All new general outpatients appointments will be issued from the digital platform. Further clinics, such as therapies, radiology and audiology, will be added to the system as it is rolled out throughout the organisation.