Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is using technology to improve the delivery of healthcare services and launched a secure, online digital portal for patients to manage their hospital appointments.

Using the Netcall Patient Hub, patients can confirm their appointment, view their appointment letter and additional information, request to rebook or cancel their appointment and download the appointment to their device calendar. The Patient Hub also has a feature for video appointments that takes the patient directly to the virtual waiting room.

Switching patients to this digital communication is more convenient, empowers patients to take an active role in the next step in their care and aims to reduce the number of appointments that are wasted or lost due to patients failing to attend.

HHFT undertook a patient survey in 2019 which identified that 70 per cent of respondents would prefer to receive appointment notifications by email or SMS.

Ophthalmology was the first service to go live as a pilot in late 2020, with paediatrics and dermatology services following shortly after. Other services will continue to be brought online over the coming months. Going forward, other information including clinic letters, discharge summaries and other care plans will be available on the secure Patient Hub.

Dr Tamara Everington, associate medical director for improvement at HHFT, said: “We are hugely excited by this leap forward and we strongly believe that this will help our patients to be better supported in their care. We have listened to patient feedback and are focused on making sure patients who come into our hospitals have the best possible experience, from the time they get their first appointment notification to when they have had the care and treatment they need.

“As well as ensuring patient information remains secure, we know that this will be more cost effective for the NHS and help reduce our carbon footprint.”