​Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH) has become the first community trust to enable patients to view their appointments in the NHS App and receive appointment reminder notifications direct to their mobile phones.
CLCH is the largest specialist community trust in the country, providing more than 100 clinical services to four million adults and children across 14 London boroughs and Hertfordshire.
With the government’s shift from hospital to community, analogue to digital and treating sickness to prevention, there’s growing recognition that community healthcare must be part of the digital ‘front door’ to NHS services. This integration marks a major milestone for community healthcare, signalling a shift towards improved digital communication with patients and greater operational efficiency.
Historically, community healthcare has been unable to integrate with the NHS App due to fragmented systems and limited interoperability. Many of the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems in use are challenged when it comes to integrating with other products. However, CLCH has accelerated its integration thanks to DrDoctor’s ability to receive and relay information directly from this EPR. Work is underway to connect CLCH’s other EPR system, SystmOne.
As part of a pilot, some CLCH patients are now able to view their appointments with CLCH via the NHS App. They will also get confirmation and reminder prompts direct to their mobile phones to improve the patient experience. Patients who do not have the NHS App will continue to be notified about appointments by SMS, email and letters, where appropriate and in accordance with patients’ wishes.
Andrew Chronias, Chief Information Officer at CLCH said: “CLCH patients across London will be able to view their appointments in the NHS App and receive appointment reminders straight to their mobile phones. This reduces unnecessary printing of letters and SMS text reminder costs and allows real-time updates of any changes, and I encourage all patients to download the NHS App.”
James Friend, Director of Digital Strategy at NHS England, London, said: “The NHS App is now a tried and tested best practice way to help get patients to the most appropriate environment for their assessment, treatment and care. A huge thank you to everyone at Central London Community Healthcare, DrDoctor and other providers for helping to bring these services to patients in the region.”
“Our hope is this major milestone is the first of many. The long-term success of the NHS App relies on both the private and public sector working closely together, to build and integrate for a better future healthcare system. We can do brilliant things if we continue to collaborate,” commented Tom Whicher, CEO and Co-Founder of DrDoctor.
