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.

Email is not a secure method of communication. It is also unreliable as people would need to keep their Email address on file updated and experience shows that does not happen.

It's perfectly secure `and has used secure protocols for decades. Its as least as secure as a letter which can be misdelivered or opened by anyone else in the household. Good grief do you think banks would be using insecure methods of communication millions of times per day?

The problem is the use of antiquated business systems and poor comms decades after the real world has moved on.

It is being addressed but the NHS is not a single entity. Our Trust is currently moving to digital communications being the preferred option for all appointments but there is a lot of push back from patient groups. Many say they do not use the internet or any form of electronic communications, so post will have to be continued to be used where patients request it. When it goes live, to continue to receive postal notifications will be an opt-in service. That decision is causing a lot of negative feedback but given that the Trust spent over £1 million sending out letter last year the savings are outweighing the opinion of those who think it should be opt-out only.

DH got his NHS letter saying that he had to reply by x date or he’d have to get re-referred…you guessed it, the letter arrived after the deadline to respond. And no app here in Scotland for comms.

Standard Email is not encrypted. It is also very easy to send a spoof Email.
No bank will send any confidential information in a standard Email. They may tell you that you have a new statement and invite you to view it on their website but only after you log in.

Yes you can use end-to-end encryption or other more secure methods if both parties have that sort of system setup but most people do not and would have no idea what that even meant.

For a breast screening appointment? Why does that need to be encrypted?

Edited because autocorrect did something weird

Anyone using the main mail providers is using end to end encrypted by default and has been for a couple of decades. The idea that this is less secure than snail mail stuck through a letter box is for the birds.

And of course there are options to include info in the mail (appt time) or link to test results etc separately. Both are more secure than a second class letter which can be opened by anyone in the building or misdelivered.

There used to be no shortage of spoof letters - the only reason they have reduced is because the use of letters has dropped.

It doesn’t but its one of the million excuses given out for running business processes and systems which are 40 years out of date.

Of course it would have helped terrifically if the NHS had not chosen to spend money inventing its own mail system instead of using any one of the major mail services used by large businesses (who know they are not tech companies and focus their money on their core business).

It's a nightmare. My son's dla renewal form is being treated as a new claim (and they aren't obliged to deal with it quickly) because it took 6 weeks to get from the post office to the DLA office and arrived one day after the deadline.

What are you talking about? It is secure and I’ve had the same address 20 years plus. I’ve moved numerous times however.

Having had my email hacked, which gives access to your entire life, I promise you email is not secure.

It really isn’t the case like this everywhere. In my area in Wales we now only have post once a week and Royal Mail are blaming lack of staff, and cutbacks for the decline in postal services. It’s a real issue here. Even our local AMs (MP)have got involved

The date on the letter is often days or even weeks before the post stamp. So it's often getting held up internally, not necessarily RM. It might be a backlog in the post room at the hospital.

Yes, have missed an appointment for DC before but now all of my medical appointments are emailed and text.

Thanks @WerewolfOfLoudon , not seen it before. Going to attempt to set up an account. NHS Grampian if that’s relevant 🤷🏻‍♀️

Not all appts are on the app. Different trusts use different apps. Some don't put appts on apps at all. Even different depts within the same hospital use different systems. It's all a shambolic foul up.

Lots of people have had snail mail stolen.

Email messages are often transmitted in an unecrypted format which can be easily intercepted and read. It was never designed for encrypted communications.

You personally may have never changed your Email address and moved house several times, but neither is the norm.

It is all caused because the NHS is not a single organisation. People think it is but it really is not setup that way.

That and the government insistance on competition meaning each Trust or region comissioned and developed its own app rather than having a single app developed at national level.

It's the same here in Cheshire. We get post on average once per 2 weeks. According to our postie, they have insufficient staff so will only deliver regular mail more frequently if you are getting a parcel or a special delivery.

There may not be an app in Scotland but any hospital appointments come by text (Edinburgh area )
you get a pin and use your date of birth and can access the letter . I put it in my phone diary and also screen shot it .

OK, that's true but I wouldn't see info about medical appointments any more sensitive than my appointments for waxing which I also get emails about. I would however see them whereas with Royal Mail, I seem to get one big bundle of post every couple of weeks..not a letter or so a day like I used to.

I don't think it's common anymore to change email address endlessly either.

For security, you can change your password regularly and that's probably the best you can do.

No, but they could have insisted on each trust/provider using the same software/systems or at least compatible systems, rather than allow a "free for all".

Lots of businesses are separate, i.e. privately owned separate franchises of shops, fast food chains, gyms, opticians, dentists, vets, accountants, etc., but part of the over-arching franchise agreement is that they use common/compatible systems as part of the franchise agreement.

It's the "empire building" and ffiefdoms within the NHS that allowed the fragmentation to happen and is partly why the NHS is on it's knees.

It really doesn't have to be this way "just because" the NHS is broken down into separate trusts.

I’ve found it really random over whether I get letters on the app or via the mail.

I was waiting ages for a referral and then I got two letters on the same day, one saying do you still need the appointment and one saying as you didn’t reply we have taken you off the list!

Ive since but put back on the list and just had a text asking me to complete a questionnaire to say if I still need the appointment this time 🤷‍♀️

Last question was am I willing to travel elsewhere, with the option of No, up to 100 miles or Nationally. There is a huge difference between No and 100 miles!

Several postie friends have said that royal mail are so focused on parcels that mail is sitting for days now .Certainly I seldom get just 1 letter,its always a few at a time which is definitely a new thing .All the date stamps are different