Patients Know Best (PKB), and innovative mail management supplier, Synertec, have formed a strategic partnership to help the NHS exceed its 5 year target to be paperless at the point of care by 2020.
Currently, the NHS sends millions of letters through the post each year to patients before and after appointments and other clinical visits. Not only is this a costly, work-intensive practice for the NHS, it also means that patients do not always receive information in the digital, mobile format they want – and need. Letters take longer to deliver and sometimes they arrive too late or not at all. Other times the rescheduling letter arrives before the original appointment letter so the patient turns up at the wrong time.
By working in partnership, PKB and Synertec will streamline and improve patient communication for its NHS customers and patients. NHS customers can use Synertec to quickly and securely register all of their patients to log into their record on PKB. This saves patients from coming to clinic to register and saves clinic time from verifying patients’ identity. For each patient who registers the NHS no longer needs to pay postage for letters about their appointments and other correspondences, as they are sent electronically to the patient via PKB. The solution can strip out 40 per cent of the costs of sending correspondences to patients – and provides patients with fast and reliable information – tailored to their needs.
Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, CEO and Founder of Patients Know Best said: “PKB is the only patient portal that allows mass registration of patients. This is critical for delivering in-year cash savings for the NHS and for enabling the NHS to benefit at scale from a patient portal implementation. The partnership with Synertec means the NHS can roll out immediately without using over-stretched in-house IT resources.”
Mark Baldock, MD of Synertec said: “When a patient gets the right information in the right place, delivered in a format that meets with their accessibility requirements, they’re more likely to attend appointments and take up NHS services – which is good for both the patient and the NHS. We’re delighted to be working with Patients Know Best and we look forward to helping the NHS communicate more effectively with its patients – and drive savings.”
