( read )

DrDoctor awarded Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust contract to make IT easier for patients to manage their health information

By Robbie Mason-Grieshaber

Topics: Building a solution DrDoctor in the news

LONDON, UK, 15th November 2023: DrDoctor has today announced that it has been awarded the contract by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), to lead in the rollout of a patient-engagement portal, to give patients more control over their own care.

DrDoctor’s patient engagement platform (PEP), alongside its partner, Patients Know Best (PKB), will be used by LGT to deliver a more personalised care journey.

Once fully integrated with the Trust's existing systems– Cerner Millennium, Rio and Soliton – in 2024, the two platforms will enable patients to view upcoming appointments and clinical data in real-time. Logging in with DrDoctor, via the NHS app, patients will be able to view appointments, compare them against other available slots, and confirm, cancel, or re-arrange to a more suitable time. PKB’s Personal Health Record (PHR) will support patient access to test results as well as enable collaborative and personalised care planning.

As the elective backlog continues to grow, DrDoctor’s technology, which is already live at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in partnership with PKB, will see patients of LGT benefit from the fusion of digital and physical services, including:

  •   Convenient digital appointment booking system - Enabling patients on the Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU) pathway to easily request a PIFU appointment when needed.
  •     Improved patient communication - With two-way messaging allowing direct patient communication, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust will have an alternative and trackable way to communicate with hard-to-reach patients. This not only reduces the need for them to call but also supports booking teams in releasing resources to contact non-digital patients by phone.
  •   Health outcomes and symptom tracking made easier for patients and doctors - With digital assessments, custom or validated forms can be sent to patients to complete in advance of appointments. This will provide clinicians with information to support patient care, which in turn supports wait list validation, triage, and pre-clinic assessments. Patients benefit from not having to repeat routine questions and family history and being able to complete the forms at their convenience and pace.
  •   Easier for patients to manage their health information - With the ability to take more control over their own appointment management, patients will be able to access correspondence, assessments, and medical records in line with NHS England requirements. They’ll be able to book, confirm, cancel, or rearrange appointments, and changes will automatically update across LGT’s system.

Recent data from EDGE Health, commissioned by DrDoctor reveals that putting patients on digitised PIFU pathways, for both high-volume low-complexity conditions and smaller-volume higher-complexity conditions, could lead to at least one less outpatient follow-up appointment per patient. If implemented nationally – alongside digital assessments – this could free up the waiting list for 1.4 million hospital appointments, creating capacity for more patients to be seen, and saving the NHS £167.2 million per year.

Founder and CEO of DrDoctor, Tom Whicher says: “Partnering with Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust is another great step in the road towards providing fully integrated care across all NHS Trusts. I believe that the future of healthcare is truly hybrid. This means putting appointment booking and management into the hands of patients to allow them to take more control over their own care. In doing this, we can create an easy-to-use pathway for the patient, and support NHS workers who continue to face the challenges of demand outstripping supply”.

Sally Rennison, Chief Commercial Officer at Patients Know Best, says: “After a long time of aligning our businesses, I’m so pleased to see the programmes we get to collaborate on with Dr Doctor grow. Expanding on our joint work in North West London, it is fantastic to see more London Trusts utilising our integration and wider partnership to deliver enhanced benefits and efficiencies in working for their organisations. The aspirations of Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust are wide-reaching, and we’re pleased to approach this challenge with a trusted partner that will allow us to maximise value for the NHS and its patients”.