Royal Mail causing people to miss important medical appointments.

[ConcernedOfSussex]

I missed a breast screening appointment last week. I was unaware I even had an appointment. I phoned and they said it was usually due to letters not being delivered. Same happened to partners physio appointment. Royal Mail are truly shite. Time for the NHS to phone or text instead.

I only found out about my breast screening appointment when I got a reminder text a couple of days before. I then had to spend ages trying to get them to answer the phone so I could cancel it, because I’d been referred for a mammogram a couple of months previously.

The missing appointment letter arrived by post a good 6 months later (and that is not an exaggeration, I was gobsmacked!).

There was never anything on my app regarding that appointment, either, but I can see referral letters, test results etc on there. It’s all bizarrely disjointed and spectacularly incompetent!

It took me - no exaggeration - about 5 years to get themn to stop sending me invitations for a smear test after i'd had a hysterectomy and had my cervix removed. It was getting to the stage I was tempted to turn up and allow them to try to smear my non-existent cervix.

They’re lying to you. How would they know? “It got lost in the post”
is just something people say to end the conversation.

rM have a fast track service for the nhs anyway.

I get my letters through the NHS app and they text to me tell me there’s a new message on the app. If the appointment is going to be within the week I get a phone call asking if I’ll be able to come in.

When I had my mammogram appointment they rang me the day before to remind me of the appointment because that one did come by post so maybe they had a few women not turn up.

I get a text the instant an appointment has been arranged, an alert that a letter has gone on the app along with a letter that is never late.

I had a paper letter for recent mammogram appt and a text but nothing on the app. Results also came in the post and there is nothing related to this showing on the app. I don’t think the app is used the same or updated the same for everyone.

It's completely ridiculous how disjointed all these different systems are and each hospital seem to do it differently. My DH has been having tests and scans for a year and sometimes his appointment is sent via the app, sometimes a letter, sometimes both. He missed a scan and only found out when the appointment letter arrived 2 weeks after the date on the letter.

The NHS does phone and text. I got my breast screening appointment by email.
My local NHS trust has its own equivalent of the nhs app (it is actually much better) and the nhs app has all the gp related information on it. I slso have online access directly to my gp record.
My gp surgery uses phone, text and email to communicate with me.
It is all possible.
However, individual trusts and practices are responsible for setting these things up and patients are responsible for providing contact details.
To be fair I think the Royal Mail is less to blame than the the systems for printing, packing and posting systems in the nhs.
Consultants type their own letters these days, the letters go straight to the app there is very little clerical support for printing and posting.

How on earth are they not using AI to produce letters from dictations by now?? Even my local authority has been producing minutes by AI for the past 6 months and they are sloooow to adopt anything useful and new. I can't believe they still have people typing out letters and putting them in the physical post. How wasteful.

I get texts and app notifications for all my appointments, both at the GP and for any hospital referrals.

I do have multiple health conditions. Am treated a 3 different hospitals - all of whom have their own app provider.

I've asked for everything to be on an app so I can access via the NHS app. Results from one hospital appear in hours. But not at all from a 2nd one.

Sometimes appointment letters are on there but sometimes not. Same for clinical letters. If I book a blood test- I get a reminder from 1 of 5 different text numbers.

When i was having radiotherapy earlier this year I asked for the appointment schedule to be sent electronically- and they told me they couldn't do that.

Instructions from a hospital re a schedule for a biologic i have to take are handwritten on a comp slip

Ive had 3 attempts to get my GP to permit me to see my results from them. No joy so far.

It is still such a patchwork

I've personally never had this issue. There's an appointment I need every 12 weeks. I always get a call to make the appointment, a letter, call to confirm I'm attending and a text reminder

I almost never get letters for my appointments in time (I have 3-5 hospital appointments a month). We get post maybe twice a week. The NHS needs a better system. My hospital sends a text reminder and I get about 3 automated reminder calls. I don’t need the letters. Trusts need to be contacting people through means other than the post. I’d be feeding this back to the hospital. It’s not acceptable that we’re still back in 1998 sending reminders by post.

There is a Scottish MyCare app. I receive both text messages and notifications on the app of any and all appointments. Only time I receive anything through the post is when something needs filled out/non urgent.

IME things lost or late in the mail are almost always posted late or not at all. I've never not received something I knew for sure had been posted. I think this can be especially true in large organisations. Producing the letter is not the same thing as posting it. The letter may have been produced on their system on x date but when was it actually posted? And, if you've only a few days' leeway why would you send it by post anyway?

Plus, why on earth is the NHS still sending appointments by post? The cost!!

I've had a phone call, the letter arrived 4 days before the appointment, then the appointment was cancelled a day later, but nothing on the app at all.

Its all so disjointed and chaotic.

I’ve got the app and get at least 2 text reminders fantastic setup
I’ve linked my mum and get hers as well can’t fault it

My blood donation appointment letter arrived 2 weeks after the appointment.

You should have installed the NHS app. Royal mail can't be relied on 😞

I get text notifications about breast screening appointments, and had a screening three weeks ago. They sent the original appointment, and a couple of reminders as well.

This thread just shows how shite the 'system' is. Can it even be called a system at all? I have had the same experience as pps of notifications arriving via a random assortment of NHS app, text, letter, and specialist hospital portal. Test results are even more difficult to track down. It's anxiety-inducing when, on top of whatever issue you're managing, you're not sure if you've missed something important and have slipped through the huge cracks in the system in terms of getting seen when you should.

The app seems to be the most reliable thing for me, but two of my young adult kids don't have enough storage on their 2nd hand phones to download it so it can't be the default assumption for every NHS user.

I’m in Scotland and had no idea this was a thing! I’m not a frequent flyer at medical stuff other than routine dental checkups and annual contact lens checks, but it’s possibly not very well publicised.

You are assuming they are correct and that it is Royal Mail’s fault. Had they confirmed that a letter was physically sent and what class of mail was used?

I have many times received appts when its too late to attend them and its invariably because they have sent a second class letter too late rather than use any of the modern channels of communication. Speaking to appts and its always “someone else”s fault. NHS comms and particularly its lack of joined up-ness is still stuck in the last century.

I’ve just Googled and it’s being rolled out from April this year, so possibly not here yet (Grampian).

As I mentioned previously, I have the app. Nothing on it concerning breast screening appointment.