Why
Send letters digitally through PKB to save the organisation money on paper and postage and fulfil NHS green initiatives to reduce carbon footprint. Prevent letter postage for patients who successfully read their letter in PKB.
Problem
Reliant of posting physical correspondence to patients
Costs of post and packaging increasing
Letters not received in a timely manner
Appointments missed
Large admin burden
Not environmentally friendly
Outcomes
Over 2,100,000 letters sent digitally rather than post
An environmental saving of over 292tCO2e
328,829 letters sent digitally rather than post between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023, an environmental saving of 45tCO2e
University Hospitals of Derby & Burton sent 59,450 letters; 90% read before posting
Hull University Teaching Hospitals sent 53,894 letters; 85% read before posting
East Sussex Healthcare sent 44,348 letters digitally, 86% read before posting
Benefit
Cost saving
Reduction in DNA rate
Patients empowered
Reduction in telephone calls
Environmental savings
What
PKB tracks each letter, whether the patient has read it before the health care provider has to post the letter.
PKB provides this tracking information to the organisation's letter-posting system. The letter-posting system only posts letters to patients who have not read them digitally in PKB. The organisation saves money by avoiding postage without risking missed appointments from patients who never got to read the letter.
PKB tracks the avoided costs and carbon footprint in the statistics dashboard:
Letters types sent to PKB
Many letters can be sent to PKB, including appointment letters, discharge summaries, and clinic letters. A full list is beside.
How
A mail (postal company) partner will process documents received from an organisation and send these digitally to PKB using an HL7 message. (The organisation can check the registration status of the patient on PKB and, if eligible, may invite the patient to sign up to PKB using generated tokens).
If documents sent digitally to PKB are not read, the mail partner can send them in the post by querying the read status of the document in PKB using the read receipt query.
The patient will receive a notification that a new document has been added to their record. They click the hyperlink to open the message and view the document as a PDF.
Usecase
Registered patients use PKB to read 76% of their letters within 48 hours, showcasing how digital letters can reduce costs and carbon footprint while ensuring patients receive information instantly.
Digital letters are safer for patients and improve care delivery. Read below how PKB customers are utilising sharing letters.
Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH) is the latest trust in Sussex to go live with PKB and a hybrid mail partner. They have been sending new appointment letters to PKB since February 2024 and are already seeing the benefits. So far, they have made enough carbon savings to fly from London to Paris 17 times!
Outcomes
96.42% read before the postal date (this is the % of read docs that were read before the print date)
66% of all docs with a print date were read before the print date
28% registration rate (April 2024), it is expected to increase this year
Swansea Bay University Health Board
Swansea Bay has been live with PKB since 2017. The aim is to provide every patient with a personal health record, and part of this goal is sharing data and letters.
They share over 1000 letters a week with patients. Within the Rheumatology department, Swansea Bay piloted the use of print and post rules to reduce the number of printed letters.
82% of appointment letters are read before the postal date
Resulting in cost and carbon savings for the health board
Weekly carbon savings is 62kg carbon dioxide equivalent*
The health board's future potential cost and carbon savings are huge. As the print and post-pilot are expanded to other document types and specialities within the health board, these figures are expected to increase significantly.
*based on figures of 0.137kgco2e = 1 sheet of paper and the associated postage. 0.017kgco2e for the sheet of paper, 0.12kgco2e for the postage. (Co2e - carbon dioxide equivalent)
Registering patient
Digitally sending correspondence to patients allows them to access letters easily. Organisations can ensure letters are received and read with read receipts, switching to alternative communication methods when necessary. Registering patients to PKB is crucial for organisation cost savings and green initiatives, as more registrations mean higher savings through read receipts and fewer physical letters sent.
Letter Rules
Hospitals decide when documents should be posted. For example, for an appointment ten days away, the customer implements a rule that a postal copy is sent if the letter is unread within 72 hours. These rules are configured with the support of PKB Integrations and the Hybrid Mail partner.
Integration partners
PKB works with hybrid mail partners, including Synertec and Xerox, at multiple Organisations across the UK.
NHS Priorities
The workflows below show how hybrid mail and PKB partnerships are used to support NHS priorities such as eMeet and Greet. These partnerships allow hospitals to advise patients that they have been added to a waiting list and a team. Patients receiving their appointment letter on PKB will see information about shared decision tools and waiting list validation questionnaires.