Patients at the Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust (NCA) can now access more information relating to their hospital appointments and care at the push of a button.
By enabling notifications through the NHS App, they can access their appointments and referrals electronically meaning that there is a single place to view and manage hospital appointments, GP appointments, vaccination records and prescriptions.
This is in line with the government’s 10 year health plan for the NHS which lists ‘from analogue to digital: power in your hands’ as one of its three main shifts to reinvent the NHS.
General Hospital in Bury using the NHS App.
Mary Murphy, a volunteer at Fairfield General Hospital is a great advocate for the new technology. She said: “I rely on the NHS App to check my appointments, it’s incredibly helpful and simple to use.”
Her views are echoed by Jean Roach who said: “I love it! I use the NHS and the new digital notifications are really helpful for checking appointments and reordering medication. I also use the NHS App on a regular basis for Martin, a close family member as I am his carer. The digital letters are so much easier to manage and keep track of.”
Since launching at the NCA in May 2024, the system has delivered over 123,000 messages, helping patients stay better informed and reducing missed appointments. More than 58% of patients are now reading letters digitally and did not attend (DNA) rates have dropped from 11.2% to 7.5% in clinics at Fairfield General Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and The Royal Oldham Hospital and their community services, and from 9.9% to 6.6% in services at Salford.
Paula Le-Moignan from Blackley has embraced the digital appointment reminders from NCA clinics. As a carer for her father, she finds getting information digitally much easier and quicker to help manage his healthcare needs. She said: "I get my digital letters sent to my phone for my father’s appointments. This means I can check my diary instantly to see if I am able to take him. I can then change the appointment in a timely manner if necessary.”
In the latter half of 2025, NCA will become the first NHS Trust in the country to pilot Rich Communication Services (RCS) for patient letters via DrDoctor, the Trust’s patient engagement portal. This new feature aims to increase patient trust in digital communications by including the organisation’s branding, encouraging more users to engage and access letters online rather than relying on printed copies.
Lorna Allan, NCA chief digital and information officer, said: “This is a great example of true collaborative teamwork between our clinical, operational and digital teams to transform access to appointments for our patients. Our journey from analogue to digital is critical for us and seeing results from initiatives like this really does shine a light on the benefits we can achieve together for our patients and colleagues.”
To find out more about the NHS App go to NHS App and your NHS account - NHS