Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust is introducing EBO’s Intelligent Patient Portal (IPP) as part of its digital transformation programme, to make it easier for people to access services and support mental health and community care.
The EBO patient portal is powered by conversational artificial intelligence and informed by behavioural science, to provide patients a simple, accessible way to manage their care. This provides a range of capabilities with options for appointment management including viewing, rescheduling and cancellation of appointments.
The company notes this moves beyond traditional systems that only show information, the IPP guides people through clear, step‑by‑step conversations. This helps patients complete tasks easily, understand their options, and feel confident using the service.
With accessibility and inclusion central to its design, the portal supports conversations in multiple languages, voice interaction, and reading-age detection. These features, along with clear guidance through each step, help those with different communication needs or levels of digital confidence to be included in accessing support easily.
“The decision to implement EBO’s Intelligent Patient Portal,” says Dr Mark Worthington, LSCFT’s Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO), Deputy Caldicott Guardian and Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist “represents an important step forward improving digital services for our patients and supporting staff wellbeing. This technology supports our commitment to inclusive, patient‑centred care and will help our teams focus on the clinical work that matters most.”
The portal meets national standards for clinical safety, information governance and cyber security. It will integrate with the NHS App and is fully interoperable with the trust’s electronic patient record.
As EBO CEO, Dr. Gege Gatt states, “Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust’s decision to adopt the platform demonstrates a clear commitment to improving access while addressing the operational pressures across mental health and community services. We are proud to be working in partnership with the Trust to support more efficient, patient-centred care, designed with empathy at its core.”
Across other NHS organisations, EBO’s portal has already shown clear benefits, including a 25–30% reduction in missed appointments, significant administrative time savings, and over 94% patient satisfaction.
Discover EBO’s Intelligent Patient Portal by downloading the guide here.
Wider trend: patient engagement
For a HTN Now panel discussion on advancing patient engagement with communication tech and patient portals, we were joined by experts including Jothi Vasan-O’Leary, medical information officer and outpatient clinical lead (GIRFT) at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton; Daniel Parkinson, digital IT project manager at Leeds Teaching Hospitals; Sally Mole, senior digital programme manager – digital portfolio delivery team at The Dudley Group; and Emma Stratful, chief operating officer at OX.DH.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has introduced a collection of virtual access guides through AccessAble, providing patients with support on routes and facilities within Bradford Royal Infirmary. Using 360-degree virtual imagery, the system allows users to “explore hospital departments and wards in advance” through an interactive interface, with the aim to support patients, visitors and staff who have “a wide range of access needs”. Users are given a map of the hospital and can select from a number of areas to explore, with the tool offering key information on drop-off points, accessible toilets and seating areas.
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has shared its upcoming digital and data strategy, along with key targets to determine its success, including the procurement and implementation of an EPR and a new patient engagement portal. “The trust has been without a Digital & Data Strategy since 2021 and with the upcoming EPR procurement, it’s critical the trust has a clear strategy,” SLaM states.
