Why

Prevent missed appointments and give patients an easy digital solution to manage their hospital appointments without calling the hospital to change or update appointment information repeatedly. Patients can cancel or rebook appointments in a few clicks. 

What

Organisations can use PKB for appointment management. PKB’s appointment messaging feature lets patients request appointment changes quickly and easily from their PKB record without waiting on the phone. Organisations can efficiently review the requests and respond directly in a message.

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The organisation can use PKB messaging feature to manage all patient queries, not just appointment change requests. When appointment messaging is switched on, all patients will see the option to request a cancellation or to reschedule any future appointment from that organisation up until 72 hours before the appointment. 

How 

To switch on appointment messaging so all patients can request a cancellation or rescheduling of an appointment, PKB team-based messaging needs to be turned on.

When an organisation wants to use this feature, they must first decide which team should receive appointment messages. All appointment messages will then go to that nominated team. 

Appointment messaging is switched off by default to help organisations set up the appropriate team and supporting processes beforehand. 

When the feature is enabled for an organisation, any appointment with a date in the future from that organisation will have buttons for the patient to request a change or cancellation up until 72 hours before the appointment time.

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Workflow 

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Options

Patients not in a team

Patients do not need to be in the team set up to send appointment messages. They need an appointment from that organisation. This allows organisations to set up an appointment management team solely to liaise with the patients around appointment requests. 

Patients will not be able to send messages outside of appointment messages as they will not be added to the team and, therefore, will not see them as an option to send a regular message. 

The nominated team for appointment messaging must have professionals marked as contactable by the coordinator and the Auto CC feature set up to allow them to receive appointment messages. Professionals have their own accounts to log into, allowing them to archive and assign messages. 

Appointment team options

1. A booking team that deals with all booking request messages

2. Create a central team that can work with the bookings team

How patients change appointment

To cancel or reschedule appointments, the options appear both in the actions menu and alongside the appointment details. Patients can select an option, review the request and send it.  See the screenshot below.

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The patient logs into PKB and clicks on Diary to see appointments and options.

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Rescheduling options

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Professionals workflow

It is not automated, meaning professionals in the team have control of the process. It is a digital appointment rescheduling system that is a personalised process to save appointments and increase appointments, preventing DNAs. 

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A professional in the team logs into PKB and clicks Messages to see any new messages.

 

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The professional logs into their own system and updates/changes/cancels appointment times. Replies to message in PKB.

 

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Archive or assign to manage the appointment request and complete.

Appointment description

To help patients understand and access their health information, PKB recommend including a short blurb in the appointment descriptions.

This helps inform patients about how they can view appointment details, test results, and care plans securely online.

Example appointment description

To cancel or reschedule an appointment, use the 'Ask to reschedule appointment' or 'Ask to cancel appointment' option displayed alongside the appointment details. These options are available up to 72 hours before the scheduled appointment time.
If you need to speak to someone directly about your appointment, please contact XXX.'

Further information

• Appointment messaging guide for patients: Patient Guide to Appointment messaging

• Accessing PKB Wayfinder appointments: The NHS App is working with acute NHS Trusts to enable patients to view summaries securely; if the appointment is stored in PKB, patients can view and manage this appointment.

• Appointment messaging blog: PKBs new messaging feature for appointment management

• Seamless integration: A video showing how patients can view upcoming appointments in PKB and click through to their DrDoctor portal via NHS login, to see appointment management options using DrDoctors advanced integrated booking features. 

• Request to cancel and reschedule appointments use case: Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust’s Contact Centre