NHS England has updated on progress with digital referrals and appointments, noting evidence from Calderdale and Huddersfield to improve waitlist validation, a reduction in costs at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, and the go-live of patient initiated follow-up functionality using the NHS App at County Durham and Darlington.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals is utilising digital appointment notifications via the NHS App, noting a saving of 17% in SMS costs, approximately £1,000 per month. The trust has sent 290,000 digital letters through the NHS App since March 2026, with 82% viewed by patients.
On digital patient initiated follow-up, the update highlights in August County Durham and Darlington was the first trust to implement the PIFU functionality through the NHS App using Health Call as its patient engagement portal. This means patient can now view and complete PIFU questionnaires through the NHS App.
For referrals, this month patients will be notified when their referral is being processed and when it has been accepted by the receiving provider, with the notification delivered through the NHS App and integrated with NHS Notify.
A research programme with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust and NHS England’s Behavioural Science Unit has found that “simple changes to waiting list validation messages increased response rates from 38% to 71% and helped identify more than twice as many appointments that were no longer needed”. The evidence base, findings and implementation resources are available on NHSFutures.
The NHS England update goes on to note its £18.5 million investment into 109 projects across 90 provider organisations, with an aim to expand NHS App capabilities and improve how patients access referrals, appointments, documents and communications. It goes on to add that 89 of these projects have national support.
Wider trend: Virtual care
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has set out its target operating model for virtual care, looking to build on existing success and introduce a unified digital approach to support “more predictable” waits, improved risk identification, and smoother patient flow. According to the trust, the new model will offer more consistency in clinical assessment for patients, expanded alternatives to ED conveyance, improved partnership working through more accurate referrals and shared records, and standardisation across tools, digital integration, and clinical escalation or advice points to support staff.
“Positive early results” are reportedly being seen from a virtual ward pilot for older adults with complex mental health needs in Sussex, with services being delivered via a combination of remote and community-based care. The pilot is part of a wider transformation programme across the region, offering support to older people to remain in their own home or care home rather than being admitted to hospital, mitigating distress and confusion that can accompany admissions, as well as discharge delays waiting for support for ongoing care needs.
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has published its quality account for 2025/26, outlining successes over the last 12 months including its EPR programme. It shares that community teams now have shared access to digital records via SystmOne, and that Doccla has been introduced into the virtual ward model to support remote monitoring and digitally-enabled care. This is hoped to help identify deterioration earlier and improve clinician’s ability to access real-time patient information. Over 182,500 virtual outpatient appointments were also held in the 2025/26 period, representing 24 percent of total outpatient activity, with the trust stating that this places them in the highest quartile nationally.
