A digital patient portal has transformed the way patients manage their appointments at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals.
The system, which went live last year, enables patients to manage their hospital appointments online, via the NHS App or portal.
Over 197,000 (62%) patients in the Warrington and Halton areas have the NHS App, and since its introduction on 12 June 2024, more than 1.3 million appointment notifications and 560,000 digital letters have been sent to patients receiving care at the Trust.
Impressively, more than 54% of letters have been read via the NHS App or portal, helping to reduce delays, improve access to information, and empower patients to manage their own health and wellbeing.
Sue Caisley, Deputy Chief Information Officer at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals, said: “We are so pleased to mark the one-year anniversary of the patient portal which is a major step forward in improving how we connect with our patients and deliver care.
“A big thank you to our digital, clinical, and operational teams for their continued effort to improve the experience of our patients, and to our patients for embracing this more sustainable and accessible way of receiving information.
“The feedback has been brilliant so far, with many patients commenting on how easy and simple it has been to manage their appointments with everything now in one place. As we celebrate this milestone, I’d like to encourage all our patients to download the NHS App, if they haven’t already!”
Alongside managing their hospital appointments on the NHS App, patients are also able to access information from other healthcare providers such as their GP, making it their digital ‘front door’ to self-management of their care.
When asked about using the new platform, one patient commented: “I received a digital appointment letter on my phone. I also got text messages and reminders on the NHS App which were extremely useful. I could add the appointment to my phone calendar so I definitely couldn’t miss the appointment! Overall, it’s made it really simple for me to receive the treatment I needed!”
Not only does the portal empower patients, but it also contributes to building a more connected, efficient and greener NHS. The shift to digital communication plays an important role in the Trust’s commitment to being more environmentally friendly, with the portal helping to significantly reduce paper use, printing, and postage costs.
Over the next 12 months the portal will continue to be expanded, with new features and improvements rolled out to enhance the information that patients are able to access and improve the overall experience.
The patient portal is supplied by DrDoctor and provides a safe and secure way to access appointments online.
For more information on the portal, visit the WHH website
