The mailroom is both the NHS engine and its Achilles Heel. It is one of the most labourintensive areas of the NHS, and is arguably, one of the costliest. From patient appointment letters, day forward scanning and subject access requests, the NHS spends significant amounts of time and money on processing health documentation. Printing, scanning, copying, archiving and posting millions of letters each year, the mailroom consumes a significant amount of resources. And, with the volume of mailing increasing, the cost of processing patient communications is no longer economical.
Not only are mailroom processes timeconsuming, they divert staff away from dealing directly with consultants and patients. And, working on outdated, manual processes, confidentiality is more likely to be breached. Human errors are also common. It has been reported that a major reason that patients have missed appointments is due to issues with appointment letters. Patients have failed to receive their appointment letters, delaying access to treatment. Outpatient letters have gone missing in the post or have arrived late at a patient’s address. Some patients forget to attend their appointments and, with no other means of communication – such as reminder texts or emails – missed appointments have become a widespread problem.
As a result of these issues, the NHS digital journey must begin at the foundations. To move away from manual processes and become a paper-lite working environment, the NHS has the opportunity to adopt technology to meet the expectations of its staff and patients.
As everything that happens in the back office directly supports the frontline, prioritising the back office will help to free staff to focus on more valuable functions and services.