A HOSPITAL trust has cut letter costs in half with the launch of digital appointment letters to patients.

The new patient communications project by East Lancashire Hospitals Trust has cut the cost of appointment letters by 51 per cent.

It is part of a trust-wide initiative to drive digital efficiency.

Hospitals patients from areas including the Ribble Valley and Blackburn are now benefitting from the secure digital appointments.

They offer text-to-speech functionality and 99 language translation options.

Following the launch last month, the digital letter implementation has seen 44 per cent of eligible patients choosing to receive their appointment letter digitally.

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust said this halves the cost the trust traditionally spends per letter on posted correspondence.

Sue Elliston, the trust's directorate manager of centralised outpatients and administration services, said: "The appointment reminder campaign has helped us significantly reduce the number of patients failing to attend their appointments and we have now upscaled our digital offering this summer to give patients the ability to access appointment letters and supporting information via their mobile device or computer."

Russ McLean, East Lancashire's patients champion, said: "I think we should embrace anything that can speed things up and cut costs, but I appreciate that not all people have access to technology."

The digital letter portal has been pioneered by Healthcare Communications and its introduction follows the success of an appointment reminder service.

The service has helped the trust reduce 'do not attend' (DNA) appointments from 8.9 per cent to 7.5 per cent, freeing up 38,000 reusable appointment slots over the past 12 months.

The patient portal sends a secure digital invite for the patient to view appointment letters, pre-op assessments and supporting information on their smartphone, tablet or desktop.

Patients can click to immediately confirm, cancel or rebook their appointment, as well as adding the appointment in their digital calendar, and accessing real-time travel maps.

In the first phase, digital letters have been introduced to the trust;s centralised outpatient appointment bookings and will be rolled out to specialist outpatient areas, including pre-op, pathology and therapies.