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Throughout the UK, practices are searching for a solution that will help them meet the newest DES requirements, requiring patients to have online access to EA appointments. Luckily, Hero Health has the answer.
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DGS Federation were looking for a solution that could help manage their extended access appointments (as mandated by the Network DES). Previously, they had been coordinating these appointments through a manual process whereby patients would have to call you, you would then need to navigate your way through EMIS clinical services and finally, the hub site would then have to trace the patient in manually. And this doesn’t even consider the complexities of a patient cancelling or rescheduling their appointment!
This is a process I’m sure many of you reading this are acutely aware of, and a problem that clinicians across the country face.
Not only was this time consuming for both patients and staff, but it did not meet the necessary online requirements as mandated by the Networks DES.
So, when DGS heard that Hero had a solution that could help automate the booking process, it was a no-brainer to go-ahead and onboard Hero as their appointments booking solution to manage their extended access.
Since onboarding Hero at the start of November, the team at DGS have been delighted with what Hero can do for them. Hero has been working with DGS to put all their hub site appointments available on their website, meaning your patients can book directly via the click of a button on their website.
For those patients who are unable to navigate a webpage or social media site, DGS can send direct invite links to patients’ mobiles or email addresses. Once they click on this link, they will input enter their D.O.B. (which will match with their EMIS record) and then be booked directly into the hub sites EMIS diary.
Importantly, your patients can cancel and reschedule these appointments via Hero. This is immediately reflected in the Hub’s EMIS diary and gives patients greater control over their own healthcare.
Thanks to Hero, DGS have a unique way of allowing your patients to book in, reschedule and cancel their extended access appointments. Hero also offers the functionality of sending appointment reminders to patients, something that has been proven to reduce DNA’s.
Hero have also been working closely with individual practices at DGS to optimise their online booking functionality. Over two days, Hero visited 7 practices within the Federation, spending time understanding their exact needs and configuring Hero in a way that would be most suitable for them.
At the end of the trip, every practice had expressed a unique way of using Hero. They all realised that by using Hero for their appointments, they could save time (and subsequently money!).