Letters Hack: Rethinking patient correspondence

We are a human-centred research, design and development company. We put users at the heart of our solutions and we believe that investing in user experience, research and engagement delivers better products to a happier audience.Nexer Digital is part of the Nexer Group, a Swedish strategy, technology and communication company with 1,500 employees, driving tech innovation in 9 countries. Nexer Group is part of the Danir Group, a Swedish privately held company with nearly 8,000 employees in 16 countries.

Nexer Digital

Using design knowledge to consider how to improve patient correspondence

Horizon Leeds

<p><strong>Letters Hack is brought to you by Nexer Digital, in partnership with Redmoor Health Digital Healthcare Services</strong></p><p>Surgeries, practices, health centres and outpatient clinics are under growing pressure to meet targets – or, more importantly, to help people. They are doing this with severe workforce shortages and challenges brought by national, seasonal health campaigns and vaccination programmes. The pressure on Primary Care is immense and the patient experience may be suffering. Clinicians and support staff aren&#x27;t achieving the results they want and are overwhelmed with a backlog of requests for appointments. Both patients and practices feel that what’s happening is wasteful.</p><p> While communication is just one part of this overall picture, its impact on patient experience is clear:  </p><p> -According to the GP Patient Survey 2022, just  56.2% of patients rated their overall experience of making an appointment as good. Compared with 2021, the proportion of patients who rated their experience as good has decreased by 14.5 percentage points from 70.6%.  </p><p>-55.4% said they had avoided making an appointment in the past 12 months if they needed one, and around 1 in 4 (26.5%) had done so because they’d found it too difficult. </p><p>-According to NHS Digital, there were 25,616 new HCHS written complaints in Q4 2021- 2022, with 16.8% of these about communication. </p><p>-As of 2019, more than 15 million general practice appointments were missed each year, with a cost of more than £216million pounds. A 2021 research piece by the British Journal of General Practice suggests that clinic-specific reasons for missed appointments include but are not limited to:  </p><p> - issues with the practice’s booking system, </p><p>- miscommunication from the practice about appointments (for example, the wrong date or time being put on appointment cards) </p><p>-not receiving appointment reminders  </p><p> It’s clear from both statistical data and anecdotal evidence that both patients and practitioners often find themselves frustrated by the communication process. We want to get the right people in the room representing a breadth of experience and think about ways we might help improve things.  </p><p> Although we are calling this a hack , and we will pull apart various examples, anecdotes and experiences on the day, we are not planning or expecting to build any technical solutions. Instead, it&#x27;s an open opportunity to share knowledge and exchange ideas on how to improve the overall patient and clinical experiences around primary care communication. We might jointly create some new templates, identify experiments you can trial, or places to share learnings after the event, but we will be focused on raising awareness for the following groups: </p><p>-Patients who are uncertain about or uncomfortable with the information they receive, in letters, via text messages, over digital communication platforms or in leaflets and posters displayed in waiting rooms </p><p>-GP practice staff who are constrained by the different policies and pressures involved when sending out communications, who will share examples and talks about system challenges on the day </p><p>-Commissioners and technology vendors who may not be aware of how people experience the outputs from a product or policy </p><p>-Service design and user research teams who want to gain greater insight into how primary care communication is created and consumed </p><h2>AGENDA:</h2><p></p><h3>09﻿:30 am -  Arrival and refreshments</h3><h3>-﻿</h3><h3>1﻿0: 00 am - Introduction from Hilary Stephenson, MD of Nexer Digital </h3><h3>-﻿</h3><h3>10:10 am  -Lisa Drake, Director, Quality, Service and Improvement at Redmoor Health  </h3><p><strong>Patient Communications - how do we get it right (and sometimes wrong)</strong></p><p>GP Practices have a special connection with their patients, many are known personally and have developed relationships over generations.  Digital methods of communication and changes in practice structure have added complexity to that relationship.  We may broadcast messages to whole populations, via website and social media, we may send targeted messages as campaigns to support Public Health initiatives, or we may send personal letters, text or make calls to individuals.  We also have to share ‘data’ wrapped up in communications with other parts of the health and care system.  Doing this across +6500 practices to a population of 65m consistently is no mean feat.  Lisa will explore some of this complexity and share some anecdotes of good and not so good practice to help us understand some of the issues.</p><p>-﻿</p><h3>1﻿1: 00 am - Nexer Digital team </h3><p><strong>Introduction to our work</strong></p><p>A few of our team will cover diverse needs and accessibility, from their own perspectives as designers and as patients with disabilities. </p><p>-﻿</p><h3>11:20 am  - E﻿mma Parnell, Found of Design for Joy Ltd</h3><p><strong>Let’s Talk About Sex </strong></p><p>A story about how to make the case for change to core ICT infrastructure systems to ensure the successful delivery of a fully inclusive service, when it comes to sex and gender, using the COVID-19 vaccination booking service as an example. </p><p>-﻿</p><h3>1﻿1:45 am - Sara Wilcox, Senior Content Designer at NHS Digital</h3><p><strong>Making health content easier to understand: how the NHS digital service manual can help</strong></p><p>Sara will start with 2 recent personal experiences of NHS appointments letters. Then she&#x27;ll introduce the new NHS standard for creating health content, in particular its section on focusing on users&#x27; needs. She&#x27;ll talk about the content style guide in the NHS digital service manual, why you should use &quot;pee&quot; and &quot;poo&quot;, and how digital services working in health and care can contribute to the style guide. </p><p><strong>-﻿</strong></p><h3>0﻿1:00 pm - Group sessions</h3><p>A﻿fter lunch we will break into groups to consider different issues within the topic of primary care comms, and think of ways we might help. This will be followed by a playback session and opportunities for open discussion. To wrap up the day, we&#x27;ll host a panel with Q&amp;A, general discussion and pledges for ideas we want to action. </p><p><strong>-﻿--</strong></p><h3>0﻿4:00 pm - Wrap up</h3><h2>WHERE/ WHEN :</h2><p>Letters Hack is held at the Create@2 space, Horizon, 3rd Floor, 2 Brewery Wharf, Kendall St Leeds. </p><p> The session will run from 10 am - approx. 4.00 pm, with breaks for lunch and refreshments. </p><p>A buffet lunch will also be provided to all attendees with vegan and gluten-free options available.  </p><p><strong>ACCESSIBILITY: </strong></p><p>Step-free access is available throughout the building, and there are two lifts providing access to the second-floor event space. </p><p>We want our event to be accessible to all, so if you have any requirements you&#x27;d like to discuss, please contact:  cat.cutmore@nexergroup.com </p>

Our {communityGuidelinesLink} describe the sort of content we prohibit on Eventbrite. If you suspect an event may be in violation, you can report it to us so we can investigate.

To report other categories of prohibited or illegal content, submit {link}

Letters Hack: Rethinking patient correspondence

More events from Nexer Digital

Discover more events from Nexer Digital, from Science & Tech to other experiences you might love.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all events in Leeds and filter by date, category, and more to find the perfect fit.

Letters Hack: Rethinking patient correspondence

More events from Nexer Digital

Discover more events from Nexer Digital, from Science & Tech to other experiences you might love.

You might also like...

Browse more events with different dates, prices, and formats to find your next great experience.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all events in Leeds and filter by date, category, and more to find the perfect fit.