1. Photocopying and postage of subject access requests
Source
Care Information Exchange.
Summary
The Care Information Exchange is a PHR system available across north London.
It can offer patients a copy of their records, after subject access requests.
This offers the potential to save on photocopying costs and postage, or CDs and DVDs if scanning.
Estimated value
The figures below show potential savings at sites where this has been implemented.
Organisations |
Cost |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
Three-year total |
Chelsea and Westminster |
Letters |
£54,250 |
£108,500 |
£162,750 |
|
|
Subject access requests |
£69,255 |
£69,255 |
£69,255 |
|
|
Total |
£123,505 |
£177,755 |
£232,005 |
£533,265 |
Hillingdon |
Letters |
£16,455 |
£32,909 |
£49,364 |
|
|
Subject access requests |
£25,654 |
£25,654 |
£25,654 |
|
|
Total |
£42,109 |
£58,563 |
£75,018 |
£175,690 |
Imperial College Healthcare |
Letters |
£28,600 |
£57,200 |
£85,800 |
|
|
Subject access requests |
£82,960 |
£82,960 |
£82,960 |
|
|
Total |
£111,560 |
£140,160 |
£168,760 |
£420,479 |
London North West |
Letters |
£34,751 |
£69,501 |
£104,252 |
|
|
Subject access requests |
£55,438 |
£55,438 |
£55,438 |
|
|
Total |
£90,189 |
£124,939 |
£159,690 |
£374,818 |
Care Information Exchange regional benefits total |
|
£367,362 |
£501,417 |
£635,473 |
£1,504,252 |
Benefit category
Provider efficiency.
Find out more
Email [email protected] from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
2. Printing and postage of clinic outcome letters
Source
Care Information Exchange.
Summary
Postage costs could be saved where patients opt to receive clinic outcome letters through the Care Information Exchange (CIE).
Evidence since the introduction of emailed appointment letters suggests that at least 20 per cent of patients prefer to receive letters electronically.
An estimated 500,000 patients are seen by acute trusts per year. There could be considerable savings if 20 per cent opted to receive their letters via the CIE.
The benefit to patients is that the clinic letter will be:
- accessible to them anywhere and anytime, through their wider CIE record
- immediately shareable with anyone else they want to see it
A PDF of the record could be added to the email and this also saves on postage.
The CIE also offers a way to fulfil subject access requests, where patients ask to see their records.
Estimated value
An acute trust receiving over 5,500 requests each month would save over £80,000 per year.
Benefit category
Provider efficiency.
Find out more
Email [email protected] from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
3. Reduced booking admin and support costs
Source
University Hospital Southampton (UHS) NHS Foundation Trust, Patient Online Service.
Summary
Admin and support staff currently help patients to use appointment booking services.
Patients will be able to do this directly themselves, using My Medical Record (MyMR). This will free staff to work more on MyMR.
Staff using the existing UHS patient administration system currently take:
- 43 seconds to cancel an appointment
- 143 seconds rebook an appointment
- 52 seconds to attend an appointment
- 99 seconds to outcome an appointment
Around 8% of outpatient appointments are not attended.
Estimated non-cash saving
It was estimated that there would be £1,823 non-cash savings in the financial year 2018/19, based on savings in quarter one to quarter three. This is based on the number of MyMR users during this period.
MyMR usage is planned to reach 100,000 users by the end of 2019.
That means an estimated non-cash releasing benefits saving over 5 years of £565,000. This assumes a 20% reduction in face-to-face attendances that need admin team support.
Benefit category
Provider efficiency.
Find out more
Email the My Medical Record team at [email protected].
4. Reduction in paper and postage costs
Source
University Hospital Southampton (UHS) NHS Foundation Trust, Patient Online Service.
Summary
UHS are working to save further money on paper letters and stamps by sending letters electronically.
Patients using MyMR can sign up to receive these paper-free communications.
Estimated cash saving
Savings based on an estimate of two letters per appointment are:
- an ambitious saving over 5 years of £891,058.07
- a moderate saving over 5 years of £702,637.82
- a conservative saving over 5 years of £376,709.38
Benefit category
Provider efficiency.
Find out more
Email the My Medical Record team at [email protected].