King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust have opened a prior information notice for the procurement of patient/citizen communication & engagement solutions.
The opportunity is open to suppliers who can provide the tools required to “facilitate the provision of digital and hybrid patient communication services”. This includes a patient engagement portal, chatbot services, SMS reminders, hybrid mail and appointment management tools that are capable of integrating with EPIC.
According to the trusts, the aim is to reduce the number of missed appointments while also giving control to patients through the use of technology, marking a “key step towards tackling the elective care backlog”.
An engagement deadline has been set for 31 July 2025, aiming to identify potential suppliers through market research, including supplier mapping and capabilities.
The £3.75 million contract is expected to take place between September 2025 and August 2028, with a possible extension up to 2030. Interested suppliers can learn more here.
Facilitating patient engagement: the wider trend
Patients Know Best (PKB) recently announced the national launch of GP data integration with its single patient record platform, enabling every adult patient in England to store in their PKB personal health record, which is a copy of the data their GP has released. Accessible via NHS login, the service helps to empower patients by bringing together their health data into one secure, patient-controlled record.
Earlier this month, Blüm Technologies Group announced its acquisition of Nexus Digital Technologies as part of a “strategic expansion in the primary engagement and community care space”. The acquisition took place with the aim to deliver a more end-to-end digital health service for organisations requiring support with digital transformation. Blüm Technologies Group also aims to broaden its capabilities to assist in areas across patient education, peer-to-peer support, direct access to healthcare professionals, and connections to local services.
A recent HTN Now panel discussion looked at the ways digital is currently being used to empower patients, enabling them to take control of their own health. We spoke to a range of experts from across health and care, including Tom Davis, UK country manager and medical director at Livi, Dan Bunstone, clinical director at Warrington ICB, and Ananya Datta, associate director of primary care digital delivery at South East London ICS.
