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What
eMeet and Greet is a new NHS initiative included in the Elective Recovery priorities. NHSE describe this initiative as being developed to be a model of digitally-enabled pathway optimisation for patients who are waiting for an outpatient appointment for any specialty, via the NHS App. The purpose of the programme is for patients to receive proactive and prompt notification of their referral into NHS services. PKB is the solution for hospitals to make digital contact with their patients, welcoming them to the Trust and onboarding them into their PKB record.
PKB allows Trusts to notify patients of referrals; it also provides the platform to engage with patients during the waiting period, with a range of features available to offer an enhanced experience to patients at this time. To find out more, please view Enhanced eMeet and Greet.
Why
Currently, when a patient sees their GP or optician and a referral is required to the hospital, the patient is not always aware the referral has been sent or if it has been accepted. There is often little or no engagement with patients during the referral process and subsequent waiting time, which can lead to anxiety and phone calls to the referring service requesting to know where the referral sits within the system.
How
When a hospital accepts a new referral, the trust sends the patient a referral document (letter) via their PKB record. The letter can be sent via a hybrid mail provider (e.g. Synertec) or by a customer using APIs to send documents directly to PKB and will always be accessible via the NHS App.
It is possible for SMS implementation for an invitation to join PKB to be triggered by receipt of a referral letter via either of the above pathways.
When using the letter method, the patient receives an NHS App and email notification informing them that there is a new document in their PKB record and they have been added to a speciality team; patients click on the link or open the NHS App to view the letter confirming the referral and other essential information about the referral and upcoming hospital appointment. The SMS content will be agreed with the sending Trusts and will also direct the patient to the speciality team, ready to receive future content and other essential information about the referral and upcoming hospital appointment.
Example Notification
PKB eMeet and Greet Workflow
Current Problem
Patients don't know the referral has been accepted
Referral can be lost, and no one is aware
Poor patient and clinician experience
A large number of calls received by General Practice and Secondary Care administration teams from patients enquiring about the status of their referral
PKB Solution
Targets patients waiting for an appointment with a hospital
SMS to patients in speciality referral
Increase the number of patients on an elective pathway actively using the NHS App
Empower patients and improve their satisfaction with the NHS
Prepare patients for their appointments and treatment
PKB Benefits
Avoid a large number of calls to General Practice and Secondary Care admin teams
Patients are well-informed
The hospital has a digital solution for sharing information with patients
Hospital saves money on post and phone calls
Reduction DNAs
Use Cases
Sussex ICS
Two acute trusts within Sussex went live with PKB's Standard eMeet & Greet solution. They worked with their Hybrid Mail Partner to automate adding patients into a speciality-specific team within PKB. This not only informs patients of their referral letter and which team they are on the waiting list for, but it also gives patients a range of information about their condition, living well and FAQs about the hospital they have been referred to.
They aim to target patients to enable further digital-enabled functionality to meet Enhanced eMeet & Greet functionality.
Key Features
Hospitals will use PKB 's Events and Messaging feature when choosing PKB as the eMeet and Greet solution. Click here to view a full list of enhanced eMeet and Greet features.
Sending eMeet & Greet SMS
PKB will send SMS notifications for new referrals if all the following conditions are met:
The organisation has enabled the SMS referral flow
The organisation sent a new referral letter to the patient via HL7 (HL7 MDM T02 with the document type in TXA-2 marked as RL (Referral letter)
The patient’s record has a mobile number but the patient has not registered
The patient is aged 16 or over
To learn more about how to use the PKB SMS functionality, click here.
Automatically Adding Patients to Teams
When sending referral documents, hospitals can use HL7 messaging to add patients to the relevant specialty team on PKB.
Events and Messaging
Patients view any referral letter
Appointment letters and appointments
Patients have access to message their healthcare team (saving time on the phone)
The Admin team can triage messages. Either resolving or passing onto another speciality team
Events and Messaging Through The NHS App
Patients can access letters the hospital sends directly from within the NHS App via the events and messaging jump-off point (specific to PKB) via any web-enabled device.
Workflow
PKB can do eMeet and Greet with waiting well and share decision tools for waiting list management. See the workflow below and ask your PKB PM for more details.
Example SMART Goals
Improve the hospital's communication with patients waiting for referrals to the hospital (by x amount) by contacting (number) patients via PKB to let them know their referral has been received and they are on a waiting list for x team (with content added to patients record on how to pre for appointments and upcoming treatment). Current referral letters received (%), compared with referral letters read in PKB after (months) post-going live.
Reduce phone calls to GP or hospital booking team by (date) (... months post team go live) from (current phone call rates %) by sending patients referral information, letting them know the referral has been made and which team they are attached too by sending them a digital letter through PKB instead of by post or not at all. Current phone call rate (%). …. months post-going live, the team compared phone call rates with patients with and without a PKB record.
Further Information
PKB's enhance eMeet and Greet: a list of key features hospitals can use with all patients on any pathway
Hybrid mail and PKB: solution to reduce postage costs and increase access
Example care plans can be found on PKB’s care planning toolkit, including examples for enhanced recovery after surgery
Consent Care Plan Templates: informed consent care plan examples
Shared decision tool care plan: PKB has converted these decision support tools into digital, editable and shareable care plans
Elective Recovery: how PKB can digitally support teams and patients at every stage of the pathway
Waiting well: Prehab, staying well while waiting for surgery/treatment, including resources and information to check the patient’s situation