NHS Highland roll out Waiting List Validation across all Outpatient specialties to validate patients leading to shorter waiting time for those who need clinical appointments
The challenge
NHS Highland is one of the largest and most sparsely populated Health Boards in the UK, and they are committed to putting quality first, to deliver better health, better care and better value.
In 2021, with waiting lists having increased exponentially during COVID and a higher conversion rate of routine to urgent appointments (due to the routine pathway disruption during the pandemic), NHS Highland were keen to implement a way to validate patients on their waiting lists and prioritise patients in order of urgency.
They wanted to supplement ‘patient focused booking’, where patients were sent letters asking them to contact the Board to make an appointment, followed by a reminder letter – a laborious and often slow approach. This was helping to reduce DNAs, but NHS Highland knew there was room for improvement in administration, DNA reduction and patient experience.
They also knew that validating patients would create more accurate – and shorter – waiting lists, at a time when the urgency to reduce waiting lists has never been greater. This would also reduce incoming calls as patients had previously called in to say they no longer needed their appointment, adding to the administrative burden on the Board.
As Netcall customers for more than 20 years, NHS Highland approached us to help them with this challenge. They selected Waiting List Validation, a module of Patient Hub, our patient engagement portal, because it delivers high response rates, typically leading to significant numbers of patients opting to be discharged from waiting lists.
“We now have an average discharge rate of 9%, in some areas up to 15%. Crucially, by keeping our waiting list tidy and validated, patients are seen in priority order where applicable. It helps reduce DNAs and short notice cancellations, allowing us to utilise clinical and administrative time better. Each of these metrics have a knock-on effect on the quality of care for patients across the whole system.”
Jamie Forrester
Head of Health Records, NHS Highland
The solution
“It works well. Once the data feeds are going in, the administration and support is minimal and the reporting functionality enables us to measure the impact. Each incremental improvement makes a big difference to reducing our waiting lists, making savings, streamlining our processes and ultimately improves our service to patients.“
Jamie Forrester
Head of Health Records, NHS Highland
The result
Generating GP discharge letters, HAB homecare support and patient contact letters through the Waiting List Validation application. NHS Highland is also keen to introduce chatbots to cut down on calls into the contact centre.
15% Discharge Rate
in key specialities
81% Response Rate
from patients
c. £1m
costs avoided
Here’s how you can accelerate waiting list validation and reduce the total number of people waiting – cost effective and rapidly deployed.
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