Outpatient appointment letters have now gone digital
March 25, 2024
Patient Engagment Portal
We have now rolled out our patient portal system to all remaining specialties. The Envoy patient portal (online appointment system) allows patients who have an outpatient appointment to receive their appointment details electronically via a text message to their mobile phone.
For any patient who is unable to access the portal, a paper copy of their appointment letter will be sent via the post.
The patient has one option to confirm, rebook or cancel an appointment all from their smartphone, tablet or computer.
How does the portal work for a patient?
For information on how the portal works, please refer to the below video:
What happens when you receive the text message
Patients will receive a text message on their mobile phone with their appointment details. They will need to click the link in the text message to be take through to the Patient Portal.
When accessing the portal, they will be required to enter their date of birth and unique four-digit PIN from the text message.
The new portal also allows patients to select whether they want to confirm, rebook or cancel their appointment as well as translating their letters in to 90 different languages.
What is Envoy?
The Envoy portal is an online appointment reporting system which provides users the ability to view patient appointment letters, action patient requests to confirm, rebook or cancel their appointments in real time and to check if an appointment letter have been sent to a patient.
We recommend for any short notice appointments staff continue to telephone patients to confirm their availability (postal letters will only be sent if it is more than 3 days before the appointment; all digital letters will be sent providing they are in the future).
The patient will receive their appointment details electronically (via SMS message) the day after the appointment is made, or alternatively letters sent via the post should arrive within three working days.
Please note, the data extract is managed by our Peformance and Insight team who send a copy to Healthcare comms the following morning.
To access the Envoy Portal, please click here.
New Clinic Process & Letter Template Amendments
To request any new clinics or letter templates, please contact the Patient Access Team via email to swb-tr.SWBH-GM-New-Clinic-Requests@nhs.net.
No new clinic(s) should be created or amended by anyone other than the Patient Access team. This will ensure no appointment letters are missed from the data extract.
How to attach a leaflet to an appointment letter?
To attach a leaflet to an appointment letter, please follow the below instructions:
- Ensure the leaflet(s) are up to date by contacting the PEP library via email to swbh.pep-library@nhs.net. The PEP library will ensure Heathcare Comms have a copy of the leaflet(s).
- Email swb-tr.SWBH-GM-New-Clinic-Requests@nhs.net to ensure the leaflet(s) is attached to the clinic letter when this is sent to patients.
Staff Guides
Please see the below for relevent staff guides for how to manage patient letters.
iPM User Guides
- iPM – Envoy Printer Set Up
- How to view a patient response in Envoy – User Guide
- How to change a patient appointment in Envoy & iPM – User Guide
- How to cancel a patient appointment in Envoy & iPM – User Guide
- How to ‘Opt-Out’ a patient on Envoy
- Letter Tracing Report – User Guide (iPM)
- How to view a patient appointment letter in Envoy – User Guide
CRIS User Guides
- How to view a patient response in Envoy – User Guide
- How to change a patient appointment in Envoy & CRIS – User Guide
- How to cancel a patient appointment in Envoy & CRIS – User Guide
- Letter Tracing Report – User Guide (CRIS)
- How to view a patient response in Envoy – User Guide (CRIS)
Envoy User Training
For further guidance on how to rebook and cancel a patient appointment on Envoy, please see tutorial video below:
Contact Us
Please contact the IT service desk on ext 4050 for IT related issues or alternatively contact the project directly for general queries via Swbh.pep_support@nhs.net.