Berskshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Achieving a digital ecosystem for patient healthcare
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BHNFT) is a community and mental health trust serving a population of around 900,000. They were seeking a digital solution that would enable automated and paperless appointments whilst also offering smart alerts to support planned and unplanned care in the community. Due to the increase in demand for remote patient care, BHNFT wanted to capitalise on the willingness to engage on a digital level to evolve its care delivery service towards a patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) model.
64K
savings in posting costs
115K
savings on staff admin tasks
75%
time-saving by booking appointments digitally
68%
of patients want to manage appointments digitally
Challenge
Enabling automated and paperless patient appointment communications.
Solution
A scalable platform that becomes part of their digital ecosystem.
Results
Savings of up to 50% on paper, print and postal costs.
Background
Recognized leader in digital maturity within the NHS, BHNFT was selected for the Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) programme in 2017 — one of only seven mental health trusts in the country to gain this status. The trust received £5m funding to transform patient care using technology, and to support its 4,500 staff in delivering outstanding care and therapy from its many sites and in the community.
Missed appointment issues
- DNAs are reported to cost the NHS £1 billion per year.
- The average DNA rate was recorded as 8% for 2018/19.
- 18% of patients didn't cancel or rearrange their missed appointments. 48% of patients pointed to letter-related problems for missing their appointment. Both causing delays and an inefficient workforce.
The trust identified two-way communication between providers and patients as one of its main objectives; looking for a supplier that has the wide breadth of technology proven to deliver at scale, to support the trust’s advancing digital vision.
Solution
Using the G-Cloud framework as a procurement model BHNFT selected Webex CPaaS, finding us the most appropriate and cost-effective supplier offering these solutions.
Appointment reminders: Capable of reducing DNAs by more than 30%.
Patient feedback: Survey patients via a text message 24 hours after their appointment in real time.
Patient portal: Allows patients to access all appointments digitally. Converts text to over 100 languages and highlights content for visually impaired patients.
The technology was tailored to the needs of each department and patient demographic. We implemented our solutions service-by-service. This was primarily because BHNFT is a community and mental health trust, and so the requirements they have are unique. The reaction amongst patients and staff has been overwhelmingly positive, with staff beginning to realize the benefits of the new technology and what it can bring to the services they provide.
Results
Manual processes have been reduced significantly and efficiency has improved across the board. For instance, if a patient books an appointment today, they will receive a communication no later than tomorrow. Patients will receive automated appointment reminders and they also have the ability to provide instant feedback — they can confirm, cancel and rebook appointments digitally, rather than having to ring someone at the trust to remind them.
- 12,650 DNA appointments saved.
- £64,000 savings in postage and sundries.
- £115,000 savings on staff administrative tasks.
If all resources and engagement activities continue as planned, BHNFT hopes to reach savings of over £3 million.
Digital by default
The new system is available to patients by default, only reverting back to postal communication if information is not accessed by the patient within 24 hours. BHNFT wanted to make sure the system was as inclusive as possible, regardless of people’s digital capabilities, or their willingness to engage on a digital level.
We had a strong idea of what the products needed to look like to support our patients in the community, we just needed to find the right solution that matched our vision.
If they engage with the Patient Portal or an appointment reminder, then that’s great because it’s the route we want them to take, but if they don’t then they still get a postal letter, enabling the patient to digitally adopt at their pace. There are no inefficiencies to the service.
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