Patient Engagement Portal (Patient Hub)
Patient Engagement Portal (Patient Hub)
Contents
Patient Hub Portal 2
Introduction. 2
Patient Hub – the patient’s view. 3
Patient notification. 3
Patient portal login. 5
Appointments. 7
Rebook or cancellation requests. 12
Letters. 12
Appointment reminders. 13
Referrals (waiting list validation): 14
Profile. 15
Patient Hub – the staff view. 1
Patient screen. 1
Search results. 2
Contact Preferences. 3
Details. 3
Referrals. 4
Appointments. 5
Letters. 7
Tests. 9
Surveys and Messages. 9
Notifications. 9
Further assistance. 10
Appendix 1 – PAS Care Stage field codes. 11
Appendix 2 – SOP for management of rebook or cancellation requests. 12
Appendix 3 – Access Team referrals process. 17
Access team RCHT response options. 24
Script for managing patient enquiries regarding waiting list validation messages sent via Patient Hub. 25
Patient Hub Portal
Introduction
Patient Hub is an online patient engagement portal designed by Netcall to help NHS organisations provide a greater level of service to their patients in managing their appointments and other digital services, reducing the administrative burden on the NHS.
All the services provided by Patient Hub are driven by digital communication (SMS and/or email or the NHS App) with patients and are designed to encourage patients to use the Patient Hub platform for appointment and other digital services rather than via hardcopy letters or other traditional methods.
The Patient Hub solution consists of two applications:
Patient Application - an application accessed over the internet where patients can view and manage appointments, manage notifications preferences, update contact details and much more. The Patient Application uses two-factor authentication to provide patients with a secure login to the patient portal.
Admin Application - an internal application for trust users. Designated users will be able to login, manage the system and run reports.
Typical notifications sent to a patient include:
- Informing a patient that a new hospital appointment has been created for them.
- Informing the patient that an existing appointment has been changed by the hospital.
- Reminding patients of an upcoming appointment a few days in advance of the appointment date.
- Waiting list validation
To ensure patients are notified of appointments, Patient Hub adheres to the following routine:
- Initial notification – sent by NHS App, SMS or email awaiting patient login – notifications sent 2 hours after being actioned on PAS.
- 1st chase notification – typically sent 2 days after initial notification if patient does not login to the patient application.
- 2nd chase notification – typically 4 days after initial notification, if the patient does not login
- Letter sent – if no login after both chase notifications, unless there are no contact details or the patient has opted out, then the letter will be sent immediately.
To help the patient remember they have an appointment, Patient Hub will send out the following reminders:
- 7-day reminder – sent seven days prior to the appointment – sent by NHS App, SMS or email
- 2-day reminder – sent two days prior to the appointment - – sent by NHS App, SMS or email
Patient Hub – the patient’s view
Patient notification
Patients can receive notifications or reminders through 3 different channels. These are:
- Via the NHS App
- Via SMS text messages (Patient Hub)
- Via Email (Patient Hub)
If the patient has the NHS App and has notifications turned on, the first notification they receive will be through the NHS App. If they do not interact with the NHS App within 24 hours of a notification, Patient Hub will default to using SMS and/or email.
An SMS or email appointment/reminder notification message, , is only sent if the mobile number or email address is recorded on PAS with consent set to Y. If these details are not recorded in PAS, no electronic message is sent and Synertec will automatically print and post the letter.
When Patient Hub is switched on, for your service, patients will receive an NHS App notification, text messages and/or emails notifying them of their outpatient appointment. This is only for clinics which are activated or enabled*.
Patient notifications are sent 2 hours after the appointment is booked, updated or cancelled on PAS; a 2hour delay allows time for the letter to be processed by Synertec** (our printing partner) and uploaded to Patient Hub.
*Clinics need to be enabled on Patient Hub, so new clinics or reinstated clinic codes do not automatically get enabled. To action this, please raise a SMAX call and provide details of the clinic code, confirmation of who books the clinic, email address for rebookings/cancellations and contact number for patients. As a principle, if the patient needs to be notified of the appointment, the clinic should be enabled on Patient Hub. Key exceptions to this are virtual clinics where the patient is not present (e.g. MDT) or advice & guidance clinics.
**Letter spooling – To ensure letters spooled to Synertec are available to the patient when they receive their notification, all letters should be spooled to the 503 printer.
SMS example (appointment notification, including new booking or change of appointment):
Email example (appointment notification, including new booking or change of appointment):
Patients will receive an initial notification message for the new or updated appointment and then, if they do not login, will receive further notifications after 2 and 4 days. inviting them to login. If they do not login, after the 3rd notification, the appointment letter will be sent in the post.
If the appointment is less than 7 days’ notice, a letter will be sent automatically by post at the time of booking, although the patient will still receive the Hub notification and letter electronically. A letter will not be sent in the post if less than 3 days’ notice, as the patient will not receive the letter in time, so the patient will only receive the Hub notification and letter electronically. If a patient does not have a mobile number or email address recorded, they must be telephoned for any appointment less than 3 days otherwise they will not receive any notification and will be a DNA.
Patient portal login
When the patient receives the notification, they click the ‘secure link’ within the message to login:
The login page will default to sign in with a mobile number. If we have made contact using their email address, they need to choose the ‘sign in with email’ option.
Patients should login using either the mobile number or email address via which they have been contacted. They will also need to provide their date of birth (in the format DD/MM/YYYY).
Patients will then be sent a 6-digit security code to input. This will be sent to their mobile or email, whichever they have been contacted on.
The security code must be inputted within 2 minutes 30 seconds, or it will expire, and a new code will need to be requested. If the patient is receiving the security code by email, they should make sure they refresh their email, after selecting “next”, until the email appears.
Once the patient has successfully entered the security code, they will be taken to the home screen.
Please note – the notification message includes a User Verification Code which is only required where there is more than one patient registered to a mobile or email address with the same date of birth (e.g. twins). See screenshots below:
Home screen:
By clicking or tapping on the Home icon the patient will be taken to the Home screen
Appointments
Clicking the Appointments button will take the patient to the appointments screen.
There are three tabs:
New – this will list all notifications which have not yet been viewed.
Attending – this will include all future appointments that have been accepted. If a patient wants to cancel or rebook an appointment, they will need to navigate to this screen.
History – this will include all past appointments, both attended and cancelled, or any which have been requested to be rebooked or cancelled (and are awaiting action).
New Tab
Patients can accept the appointment or request a rebook or cancellation.
If they have accepted the appointment, the screen will move to the Attending tab, or they can click the Attending tab option. They will now see all their upcoming appointments.
Attending Tab
The appointment details will note if it is a phone or video consultation or provide site information if the appointment is face to face. This information will be driven by the Care Stage field entered on PAS (see Appendix 1). Patients can still request a rebook or cancellation from this screen.
To see more information about the appointment, including the appointment letter, they can click the View button.
Face to face appointment information will show a map of the hospital location and a link to the Outpatients page on the Trust website for further information, including site information, along with the appointment date and time. There is still the option to rebook or cancel the appointment. There will be a link to the appointment letter.
Phone consultation appointment information will confirm when the patient will be called. There is still the option to rebook or cancel the appointment. There will be a link to the appointment letter.
Video consultation appointment information confirms details of the patient’s appointment and a link to Attend Anywhere via the ‘Go to video consultation’ button. There is still the option to rebook or cancel the appointment. There will be a link to the appointment letter.
History Tab
In this section, any past appointments or appointments that are pending a rebook/cancellation will be listed, in date order.
Rebook or cancellation requests
When the patient selects the Rebook or Cancel option, they will get a message informing them that we will attempt to call them back within 2 working days and ask for confirmation that they wish to continue.
This will trigger a request to the relevant Booking Office, either through the call handling system or by email, to contact the patient to reschedule or cancel the appointment.
This functionality will be disabled one working day before the appointment, with a view to the patient having to phone to rebook/cancel at short notice and reducing unactioned requests due to short notice.
Please see Appendix 2 for management of rebook or cancellation requests.
Letters
This will display both read and unread letters which the patient can download and view.
Appointment reminders
Appointment reminders are sent by text and/or email at 7 and 2 days before the appointment. Patients can login to Patient Hub, following the link from this message, to view their appointment information or request a rebook or cancellation of the appointment.
Please note that until all specialties transfer to Patient Hub patients may receive a text message from our legacy reminder system:
Referrals (waiting list validation):
Patients who remain on an outpatient or inpatient waiting list for >12 weeks without an appointment or TCI date will be sent an NHS App, text or email notification to confirm they still require the appointment/procedure.
Patients will receive an initial notification message and up to 2 further notifications, after 2 and 4 days, inviting them to login. If patients do not login, no further action will be taken, and the patient will remain on the waiting list.
The notification message will refer to ‘an outstanding referral’ whether contacting about an appointment or a procedure (BEA).
Patients should select Referrals when they log in and will have the details of the referrals for which they are waiting and require a response.
Patients should click the Respond button.
Patients then select their response from one of these options:
The first two options, which confirm that the patient still wishes to be seen, help determine if the patient wishes to be seen locally only or would consider treatment outside of the county as part of the elective recovery mutual aid response (DMAS).
All responses are co-ordinated by the Access Team and PAS updated accordingly.
Profile
This shows the patient’s contact details which are contained on PAS* and allows them to specify how to receive their notifications, i.e. by text or email, if they have a preference (or they can continue to receive by both methods). If they have enabled notifications in the NHS App, they will receive notifications via the NHS App in the first instance.
*Contact details should be updated on PAS ( see ‘how to’) and these will pull through into Patient Hub.
By unticking an option, patients can indicate their communication preference. Patients can opt out completely from electronic notifications by unticking both options but will no longer receive any appointment notifications or reminders.
Notifications in the NHS App are controlled through the settings in the NHS App and are unaffected by any preferences set in PAS.
See below for instructions on enabling notifications on the NHS App.
Patient Hub – the staff view
When you log into Patient Hub, you will have various screen options depending on your access. To view a patient, choose the ‘Patient’ option from the drop down.
Patient screen
The search function will allow you to search for patients using any of the following data:
- FHIR ID – this is related to the NHS App and is not in use
- Hospital Number - the patient’s hospital number (CR number)
- NHS Number - the patient’s NHS number
- Forename - the patient's forename
- Surname - the patient's surname
- Date of Birth - the patient's date of birth. Date format is 02/03/1968
- Mobile Phone Number – the patient’s mobile number
- Email Address – the patient’s email address
- Phone number – the patient’s home phone number
If someone has received a message which is not intended for them, you can search Patient Hub by the mobile number or email address on which they have received the message, and this will allow you to identify all records which have those details.
Enter the search criteria then click on the Search button.
Search results
Performing a search will return the following result columns:
- Hospital Number - the patient’s hospital number (CR number)
- NHS Number - the patient’s NHS number, Format 123 456 7890
- Patient Name - the patient's full name
- Date of Birth - the patient’s date of birth. Date format is 02/03/1968
To access the patient record, click on the CR number of the required patient to open their record:
Contact Preferences
You can update a patient’s contact preferences by using the tick boxes. A patient can be opted out from electronic notifications by unticking both options and pressing the Save button. The patient will no longer receive any appointment notifications or reminders.
If both options are unticked, the patient’s appointment letter will automatically be posted to them.
The remaining items in the Contact Preferences show you the patient’s current mobile phone number, their email address and their home phone number. If these need to be amended, this should be actioned on PAS. Once amended on PAS, the updated information will be available on Patient Hub within a few minutes. Information will only be pulled through if the consent is set to ‘Y’. ( see ‘how to’)
Where there is clockface icon, clicking this will show audit information.
Details
This screen shows you the following patient details:
- Sex
- Title
- Forename
- Surname
- Address 1
- Address 2
- Town
- County
- Postcode
Amendments should be made on PAS. Once amended on PAS, the updated information will be available on Patient Hub within a few minutes.
Referrals
Patients who remain on an outpatient or inpatient waiting list for >12 weeks, without an appointment, will be sent a text or email notification to confirm if they still require the appointment.
Patients will receive an initial notification message and 2 further notifications, after 2 and 4 days, inviting them to log in. If patients do not log in, no further action will be taken, and the patient will remain on the waiting list.
The notification message, a patient receives, will refer to ‘an outstanding referral’.
See Appendix 3 for the Access Team process.
The Access Team manages the outputs of the waiting list validation. Patients can be referred to them if there is a query – their contact number is 01872 255084.
Appointments
This screen shows all the patient’s outpatient appointments (previous and outstanding) and is fed from PAS. The information shown is as follows:
- Site – the hospital the appointment is taking place in if face to face (or the site against which a clinic has been set up if video or telephone)
- Specialty – the appointment specialty
- Clinic – the PAS clinic code
- List – the PAS clinic code
- Interaction type – whether the appointment is on site (face to face), a phone consultation or a video consultation.
- Date & Time – of the appointment
- Status – of the appointment, see below
Status details:
- Unconfirmed – this relates to past appointments that have not had an outcome recorded on PAS yet.
- Accepted – the patient has accepted the appointment
- Cancelled – the appointment has been cancelled in PAS
- Attended – the patient has attended the appointment
- DNA – the patient did not attend their appointment
- Awaiting Confirmation – these are future appointments that the patient has not accepted on Patient Hub
- Rebook Callback Requested* – a rebook request has been made by the patient but not yet processed (Callback means this will be via Liberty Converse)
- Cancel Callback Requested* – a cancel request has been made by the patient but not yet processed (Callback means this will be via Liberty Converse)
- Rebook Requested - A rebook request has been made by the patient but not yet processed (this request will be received in the contact centre email address)
- Cancellation Requested - A cancellation request has been made by the patient but not yet processed (this request will be received in the contact centre email address)
*If there is a Liberty contact centre, the patient and appointment details will be pulled through automatically when the request appears on the operator’s call list.
This record will be updated once the rebook or cancellation has been actioned on PAS. If the patient decides to keep the appointment, you must click the ‘Keep appointment’ button in Patient Hub to update the status of the appointment. This screen is accessed by opening the appointment – click on the appointment date and time to access the appointment.
If a rebook or cancel request remains unactioned (or ‘Keep appointment’ has not been updated where applicable), the request will continue to flag on the Pending Rebook and Cancellation report and the patient will not receive any further notifications or reminders regarding this appointment as the system assumes the patient will not be attending.
The small clock face next to the appointment status will show you the audit timeline of when appointments were sent/accepted/request rebook or cancellation/cancelled. Only a patient can accept an appointment or request a cancellation or rebook. (Because the system performs the action on behalf of the patient it will show the user who performed the action as ‘api_superadmin. If a member of staff performs and action, it will record their username).
Letters
There are two tabs under ‘Letters’. All outpatient appointment letters are under the ‘Appointment’ tab. Letters under the ‘Patient’ tab are unrelated to appointments.
- Appointment – gives the date and time of the appointment the letter is for
- Created – the date and time the letter was created
- Document – the letters are in PDF format and can be opened by clicking on the link (which will open it in a separate tab)
- Letter type – this will always default to Unknown as letters are generated outside Patient Hub
- Patient Accessed – Yes or No – this shows whether the patient has opened the letter
- Paper Copy Requested – this will always default to No as letters are not generated within Patient Hub
- Document read status:
- Unread
- Read
- Send (when automatic notification to Synertec to post letter)
All outpatient appointment letters must be ‘printed immediately’ to printer 503 from PAS.
The following rules are in place to ensure the patient receives the letter either electronically or via post:
- If a patient has no mobile or email contact details recorded on PAS (or consent is set to N) - letter sent to Synertec to post
- If the patient does not log in and view the appointment 7 days after notification - letter sent to Synertec to post
- If the appointment >3 days and <7 days - letter sent to Synertec to post
- If the patient has disabled their contact preferences on Patient Hub - letter sent to Synertec to post
Tests
Not currently in use.
Surveys and Messages
Not currently in use.
Notifications
This will show you all the notifications that have been sent from Patient Hub to the patient. These are listed with latest at the top.
Clicking on any notification will open that communication and show you more details.
Further assistance
If you require further assistance, please contact the Outpatient Transformation Team on extension 2201 (Monday to Friday, 9.00 am to 12.00 noon) or email address rcht.outpatienttransformation@nhs.net. Patients can also be directed to this number if they need support to login – 01872 252201.
Appendix 1 – PAS Care Stage field codes
The code entered in the Care Stage field in PAS determines the appointment information which is sent to the patient. If this is incorrectly entered, there is a risk the patient will receive incorrect appointment notification, as use of any of the other Care Stage field codes will autocorrect to the original clinic type.
The following are the only codes which should be used in PAS:
F (face to face) – to be used for all patients whose intended appointment is due to be undertaken as a face to face appointment
V (video) – to be used for all patients whose intended appointment is due to be undertaken as a video consultation (can be changed to telephone if patient opts to default to a telephone consultation) – please do not record as a virtual consultation (see below)
T (telephone) – to be used for all patients whose intended appointment is due to be undertaken as a telephone consultation - please do not record as a virtual consultation (see below)
A (advice and guidance) – to only be used in conjunction with recording retrospective activity for GP enquiries managed through the Advice & Guidance Service on eReferrals; not to be confused with advice and guidance being provided during a clinic appointment, when the consultation could be F2F, video or telephone
X (virtual) – to only be used for appointments when patient care is progressed, but the patient is not in attendance (e.g. MDT) – virtual appointment should not be used for either video or telephone appointments or advice and guidance
H (home visit) – only to be used when a patient is being seen in their own home
Appendix 2 – SOP for management of rebook or cancellation requests
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How to manage rebooking and cancellation requests on Patient Hub
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Purpose
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To standardise the management of rebooking and cancellation requests on Patient Hub
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Scope
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This document is for use by individuals within RCHT, who are responsible for the management of rebooking and cancellation requests on Patient Hub
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Effective date
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1 August 2022
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Sign off by
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Patient Hub Working Group
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Sign off date
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1 August 2022
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Version
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1.0
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Primary source document
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Patient Access Policy
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Access policy reference
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6.6 General Waiting List Management
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Review date
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1 August 2023
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Author
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Helen Williams – Transformation Lead
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For specialties/clinics enabled on Patient Hub, the patient can accept the appointment or request rebooking/cancellation.
Patients can request a rebooking/cancellation at any point up to the time of their appointment, including after they have accepted the appointment:
Patients receive the following message when they request rebook or cancel:
The expectation is that the request to rebook or cancel will be actioned within 2 working days of the request being made.
This document describes the process to be followed for (a) the booking services using Liberty Converse call handling and (b) the booking services using an email account. Due to the nature of the service, the Suspected Cancer Service has a separate process for the management of rebooking and cancellation requests.
A process map of the Callback functionality is embedded as Appendix 3.
Requests being managed on Liberty Converse are referred to as Callback requests. Requests being managed by email (either because service not on Liberty Converse or because 24 hours has lapsed since a Callback request made and there has been no change to the appointment) are referred to as Rebook or Cancellation Requests.
The aim is to ensure that patient requests are managed in a timely and effective manner, ensuring released capacity is utilised, patients are managed in accordance with the Access Policy, and either rebooked, added back to a waiting list, or cancelled in accordance with the patient’s request.
Patients who make contact, however short notice, ahead of their appointment should be recorded as a cancellation, not a DNA, and be managed accordingly.
Patients who request cancellation of their appointment (and are consequently discharged) should be managed in line with usual practice.
Patients who request rebooking of their appointment for a second time should be managed in line with usual practice of clinical review.
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For booking services using Liberty Converse:
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All requests to rebook or cancel an appointment will present on Liberty Converse during the Callback opening times. The Callback requests are queued until the Callback queue is open to take calls. Callbacks will be received between 08.45 hours and 16.15 hours. Each specialty queue will have a maximum of one Callback presented at a time.
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When the Callback queue is open, the Callback request is answered by the next available Contact Centre Agent and a call to the patient is instigated.
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If contact is made with the patient and the appointment is rebooked or cancelled, the patient will no longer be queuing on Liberty Converse and will not show on the ‘pending rebooking and cancellation report’.
If the patient decides to keep their original appointment, you must select the ‘keep appointment’ button to change the status of the Callback request. This can be found by opening the relevant appointment:
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If the patient does not answer the call from the Contact Centre Agent and they are unable to leave a message, the Callback request is queued again for a second attempt in 90 minutes. If the second attempt is unsuccessful, the request will be downgraded to Rebook or Cancellation Request and an email will be sent to the relevant specialty Contact Centre email account.
The Contact Centre Agent will make one further attempt on receipt of the email. If contact is unable to be made, the request will be actioned without having spoken with the patient and the change marked as ‘HUB REQ’ on PAS.
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If the patient does not answer the call from the Contact Centre Agent and they are able to leave a message, then the request is no longer queued and will be downgraded to Rebook or Cancellation Request and an email will be sent to the relevant specialty Contact Centre email account.
The Contact Centre Agent will make one further attempt on receipt of the email. If contact is unable to be made, the request will be actioned without having spoken with the patient and the change marked as ‘HUB REQ’ on PAS.
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The Rebook or Cancellation Requests in the email account should be checked and actioned at least once a day, Tuesday to Friday, to ensure patients are contacted in a timely manner. The email is not reviewed on a Monday as patients will be queued on Liberty Converse in the first instance, to avoid duplication.
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Where a patient has requested rebook or cancellation on the same day as their appointment, the request should be actioned that day whether or not the patient can be contacted, to avoid the patient being recorded as a DNA.
For on the day cancellations, one attempt will be made to contact the patient only.
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The pending rebook and cancellation report will be routinely monitored as a failsafe to ensure all requests are actioned in a timely manner.
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The robust management of these requests will be monitored through the regular review of patients who are recorded as DNA following a rebook or cancellation request.
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For booking services NOT using Liberty Converse:
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All requests to rebook or cancel an appointment will generate an email to the relevant generic email account assigned to that specialty/clinic at the time of the request being made.
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The Rebook or Cancellation Requests in the email account should be checked and actioned at least twice a day to ensure patients are contacted in a timely manner.
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If the patient decides to keep their original appointment, you must select the ‘keep appointment’ button to change the status of the Callback request. This can be found by opening the relevant appointment:
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If unable to contact the patient, please follow the guidance below from Point 17.
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Monitoring patient requests to cancel/rebook – ALL services
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An up-to-date list of all the outstanding appointments in the Rebook or Cancellation Requested state can be found on Patient Hub in the following menu:
Reporting > Appointments > Pending cancellation and rebookings
The report can be downloaded as a CSV file to enable it to be filtered.
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This list should be reviewed daily, with particular focus on targeting those appointments which are due soonest.
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Once appointments are rebooked, cancelled or noted as ‘keep appointment’, they will be removed from this worklist.
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Patient Hub Reporting: An up-to-date list of the outstanding appointments in the Rebook or Cancellation Callback Requested state can be found on Patient Hub in the following menu:
Reporting > Callback > Appointments
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Liberty Converse Reporting: A list of Callback requests can be found in Liberty Converse in the following menu:
Callback > Reports > Detailed History and Queue Summary
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PLEASE NOTE: Patients who have requested a rebooking or cancellation which remain unactioned will NOT receive any appointment reminders or I’ve Arrived notifications (the patient will not appear on the receptionist’s worklist for I’ve Arrived, albeit that the appointment will still be on PAS).
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Appendix 3 – Access Team referrals process
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How to administratively manage a waiting list review using net call
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Purpose
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To standardise the way patients waiting for a specialist opinion are administratively reviewed.
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Scope
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This document is for use by individuals within RCHT, who are responsible for the administrative management of patient pathways.
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Effective date
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06 October 2022
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Sign off by
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Standard administration process group
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Sign off date
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04 September 2023
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Version
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1.7
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Primary source document
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Patient access policy
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Access policy reference
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Introduction
Overview of Trust standards
General waiting list management
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Review date
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04 September 2024
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Author
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Nicola Robbins – Access Manager
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Wait times for patients have increased and many services have experienced an increase in demand. During this delay, some patients may have deteriorated so that their care has become a higher priority whereas other patients may have recovered naturally and no longer require a consultation or surgery.
Automated waiting list validation (WLV) via the patient engagement portal (Patient Hub) was introduced to support patients who have experienced delay and to meet new guidance from NHSE on waiting list validation requirements. The waiting time threshold for validation needs to be reduced to >12 weeks for all patients with the following exceptions:
- Pathways which have a current RTT wait of less than, or equal to, 12 weeks
- (Pathways where the Date_Last_Attended is within the last 12 weeks OR Decision to Admit Within the last 12 Weeks (Admitted or Non-Admitted)
- Pathways which have a TCI Date OR Future Outpatient Appointment date in the next 4 weeks)
The numbers of patients awaiting outpatient appointment, elective care, imaging or any other diagnostic test and the length of time they have waited, must be accurately recorded.
Enquiries for any waiting list review must be made to the generic Access team e-mail account, where the request will be prioritised:
rcht-tr.Accessteam@nhs.net
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The cohort of patients to be contacted via Patient Hub will be agreed with the Access team.
Once the threshold is set reviews will be automated and undertaken on an ongoing basis.
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CITS are responsible for uploading the CSV file to the waiting list module of the Patient Hub using agreed criteria for patients to be included in the waiting list review.
Uploading referrals to the Waiting List module within Patient Hub means patients will be contacted digitally regarding their referral requesting them to validate their appointment using pre-set response options.
NB Patients with no contact details will still be uploaded to the waiting list module of Netcall. They will appear in the call list report as Not contactable and can be identified using the filter.
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Hospital administration staff can use Patient Hub to view patient responses, for example, if a referral has been validated as not required by the patient, the referral can be removed from the waiting list, if validated as required, the patient remains on the waiting list until the referral can be converted into an appointment.
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To ensure the patient is notified of the referral review, Patient Hub attempts to contact the patient three times.
- Day 1 - Initial notification
- Day 2 - Second notification
- Day 3 - Third notification
If the patient fails to respond, the referral status will switch to No response.
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The response configured within the Waiting list will display for the patient, and they will be required to choose an answer.
Choosing a response takes the patient to the confirmation screen (the confirmation screen may differ depending on the response type).
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If the patient selects a discharge or call back response, the response will display, and they will be asked to confirm the response.
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The Referral work list is a list patient responses. You can access the Work List via the Referrals area on the Patient interface.
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Once you have accessed the work list you can search/filter using the following criteria:
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The search results will display the search criteria and a colour coded response field. You can sort the list by any column that displays a sort selector.
You can access the patient details (hospital number) or the referral response itself including if the patient is willing to travel out of county (waiting list ID).
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The worklist should be used to confirm the response is completed and processed.
- Patients will be removed from the waiting list after a discharge response.
- PAS must be updated with a coded remark for OPWL.
- Pathway comment on Radar must be updated and include the validation code.
- Last validation date on BEA must be updated to reflect the validation date and a free text code added to the comments field.
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Patients who want to remain on the list must have a free text comment added to the inpatient waiting list (example 1) and a coded comment added to the outpatient waiting list (example 2) to exclude them from any further waiting list review and to identify if the patient is willing to travel out of County. The following abbreviations must be added to the pathway comment on Radar.
- WV1 (Proceed with OPA locally)
- WV2 (Proceed with OPA will travel)
- WV3 (Call back required)
- WV4 (No response)
If the coded comment on the OP module is already being utilised for expedite requests the free text field can be used to record WV-
Example 1
Example 2
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To start a referral update on patient hub, click the start button and confirm the start. This will update the status to complete.
 
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To complete the referral, click the complete button and confirm the completion, this will remove the patient from the worklist.
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worklists can be used to download a CSV file of patients with a call back response. The initial call back will be made by Care group administrative team.
Once the patient has received a call back the referral response needs to be updated.
- Patients who have reported a worsening of symptoms may require a consultant call back after the initial administrative call.
- Downloading patients requiring Clinician call back from Hub.
- Populate the Worsening symptoms excel template.
- Copy the patient detail from the CVS file and paste as values into the excel template.
- Update columns T – X on the template with patient responses to help inform the Clinician prior to call back.
- Update Patient Hub status following the Clinician call back.
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For patients who no longer require an appointment:
The reason for removal code is recorded on the in-patient waiting list as
5 - other reason and the free text removal reason is recorded as WLR.
The reason for removal code is recorded on the out-patient waiting list as
O-Other and the free text removal reason is recorded as WLR.
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The responsible Clinician must be informed of any patient that has been removed from the inpatient waiting list following the administrative waiting list review process.
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The Care group/Access team will remove patients requesting to be discharged from the OPWL and notify the referring GP using the appropriate GP e-mail address.
- The email subject should include Confidential patient level detail included.
- The email should include the NHS number and the Patient Name.
Patients removed in error must be returned to the waiting list with the original DRR.
e.g. Patient selected incorrect response in error
Text of email to GP for patients requesting to be discharged
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Access team RCHT response options
Issue to be resolved
Specific field on PAS to record
Script for managing patient enquiries regarding waiting list validation messages sent via Patient Hub
Background
As part of the national waiting list validation programme, given long waiting times for patients for new outpatient appointments, we are introducing the automatic validation of patients who have waited in excess for an appointment.
Patients will be invited to log into Patient Hub and respond about their ‘Referral’.
When they enter Patient Hub, there is now a ‘Referrals’ tab into which they should go and there will be the details of the list being validated.
Patients will be presented with a choice of 5 options:
Script
We appreciate that patients are waiting a long time for their appointment. This validation is being undertaken to ensure all patients on the waiting list still need to be seen, thereby ensuring that we only offer appointments to those who need them and enabling patients to be seen at the earliest opportunity. We also want to identify patients who may opt to be treated outside the county if the opportunity arises.
Support
To provide support with navigating Patient Hub itself, the Outpatient Transformation Team will be available between 9 and 2 each day on 01872 252201.
To answer any queries regarding the WL validation, the Access Team are available on 01872 255084.
Text of email to GP for patients requesting to be discharged
As part of the national waiting list validation programme, given long waiting times for patients Cornwall Hospital Trust have introduced the automatic validation of patients waiting for an appointment. The following patients have responded and have requested to be discharged from the TF outpatient waiting list.
Article ID: 393
Created: December 5, 2023
Last Updated: December 5, 2023
Author: Karen Willson
Online URL: https://elearning.cornwall.nhs.uk/site/kb/article.php?id=393
