Creating A Digital Front Door

Creating A Digital Front DoorAdopting technology that facilitates multiple modes of communication will support the NHS to establish a much needed ‘digital front door’. Digital communications will ensure that patients and NHS staff are better connected.

Back office digital solutions can meet patient needs, offer a more personalised experience and increase patient choice and convenience. All of these outcomes can be achieved by a strategic focus on two key innovations: Hybrid Mail and Document Scanning & Archiving Technologies.

1. Hybrid Mail Technologies
Hybrid Mail should play a prominent role in the NHS back office, resolving issues of missed patient appointments. These are not only costly but delay appropriate diagnosis and treatments and prevent opportunities for consultants to work effectively.

With Hybrid Mail, patients can be prompted on upcoming appointments, using SMS, email and other electronic communications. This multi-channel communication solution means patient letters can be sent via digital routes, whilst retaining the ability to send physical mail, dependent on the preferences of the recipient.

Benefits:

Release resources for staff
Meet patient needs for choice and convenience
Reduce missed appointments
Eliminate the need to write, print, fill envelopes
Minimise human error
Create cost savings in mail production
Free up office space
Promote environmental sustainability

2. Document Scanning and Archiving Technologies
For efficiency savings, and to release valuable floor space, scanning and archiving has the scope to add great value to the NHS back office. Consolidating storage solutions when transitioning from paper records to electronic will also create substantial savings.

Scanning and archiving records not only allows for quick real-time retrieval. It provides better visibility into patient care history and improves patient safety. Scanning and archiving technologies can safeguard your patient records and communications and provides a certified, auditable approach to underpin your regulatory compliance.

Digital scanning and archiving brings greater staff productivity as a patient’s full records can be accessed at the touch of a button, from any location and at any time.

Benefits:

Simple document collection and preparation
Valuable patient records can be quickly accessed
Increase security, visibility and transparency
Document indexing and classification for easy retrieval
Save time and improve efficiency
Reduce risk of error and document loss
Improve patient services
Quick responses to patient requests
Full audit trail provided
Free staff to focus on value-added tasks

Benefits of Digital Mailrooms

Process Optimisation enables faster, more accurate deliveries and greater efficiency by simultaneously processing both paper and electronic mail.
Compliance including patient consent for e-communications, can be more easily documented thanks to audit trails.
Operating costs can be reduced (fewer staff members needed to open, sort and process communications, leading to cost savings)
Improved communications for a heightened & tailored patient experience
Reliable delivery provides timely and accurate automated scanning of letters, less room for human error
Better informed decision-making seamless clinical processes, treatments, follow up appointments and patient care

Collaboration and partnership
Government is increasingly experiencing the value in partnering with private sector expertise to support digital and operational transformation goals. Working together, collaborating and discovering what other industries and organisations have achieved can be invaluable.The sharing of ideas, resources, case studies, processes and technology can help the NHS confidently move forward. And innovation relies on strong leaders who are not risk-averse, but open to change and improvement. As no one NHS setting is the same, with varying patient demographics and needs, NHS leaders throughout the UK must identify the digital solutions that will suit them the most. When leaders focus on meeting patient needs across the health and care system, digital collaboration and partnership can be the catalyst to longlasting transformation in healthcare.

Digital Healthcare Solutions
Ricoh, drivers of innovation in digital healthcare, possess a strong heritage in mailroom and document management. Ricoh have a long and proven track record in supporting both public and private sector organisations migrate from paper-based processes to digital workflows.

Within Ricoh’s document management suite of solutions, they deliver Hybrid Mail and Scanning and Archiving technologies, providing full electronic document and records management, to support paperless workflows, resulting in a radically reformed NHS back office.

With a strong heritage in public sector transformation, Ricoh are acutely aware of the unique ecosystem of the NHS and its pressures to reduce costs and maximise efficiency. This special position and deep level of insight means Ricoh can collaborate as partners with the NHS, rather than solely being suppliers. Ricoh is proud to partner with the best technology providers in the marketplace, so, whatever your most pressing challenge, they have the collected skills and expertise to support your healthcare environment.