Revolutionising Flu Season Processes in an NHS Practice

1.1 Executive summary

In August 2023, a GP practice within a Suffolk & North Essex Primary Care Network (PCN) in the UK faced challenges managing their flu vaccination programme due to the heavy administrative burden of contacting patients coupled with low engagement from certain groups. To address these issues, the practice implemented Appt Health’s automated patient engagement solution.

Over the course of a year, Appt Health’s service has delivered significant improvements, including automating patient invitations, staggering messages to better manage practice capacity, and using personalised messaging to engage previously unresponsive patients. These changes have streamlined the flu season operations and reduced the practice’s administrative workload.

This summary outlines the impact of Appt Health’s solution and explores the broader benefits the practice and its PCN have experienced as they continue to work with Appt Health across additional healthcare programmes.

2.1 The Challenge

As a busy GP practice on the east coast of England, they faced significant administrative challenges during flu season. Despite implementing bulk messaging systems, their reception team was inundated with calls, doubling their workload and creating inefficiencies that impacted daily operations. The practice also carried a heavy administrative burden in ensuring they met their Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF) targets, which added to the strain.

In addition, the practice struggled to engage groups of at-risk patients who were hard to reach and often did not book their flu vaccinations, further complicating efforts to provide equitable care. These ongoing challenges highlighted the need for a more streamlined and effective approach to patient engagement during flu season.

2.2 The Appt Health Solution

This is the strategy that Appt Health implemented to support the GP practice in streamlining their flu season operations and reducing the administrative burden:

• Automated Patient Recall: Automatically sent invitations and follow-up reminders to eligible patients, eliminating the need for manual recalls by reception staff and reducing the administrative workload.
• Personalised Messaging: Delivered tailored messages to specific patient groups using multiple communication methods, including SMS, email, and letters, to increase engagement and make outreach more accessible and effective, particularly for hard-to-reach patients.
• Streamlined Appointment Booking: Enabled patients to book appointments online through a system linked to open clinic slots while also offering the flexibility to contact the surgery directly for those preferring a more personal approach.

This multi-faceted strategy allowed the practice to engage more patients effectively, reduce staff workload, and ensure a smoother and more efficient flu season.

2.3 The Results

By leveraging Appt Health’s innovative patient engagement platform, this practice transformed its flu vaccination programme. Our solution focused on optimising stock usage, engaging hard-to-reach patients, and reducing the administrative burden on staff. The results speak for themselves:

• Increased Stock Usage Efficiency: Within just 7 days of opening bookings, 88% of initial flu vaccine stock was assigned, ensuring rapid uptake and efficient stock allocation.
• Wider Engagement: Targeted messaging reached previously unengaged members of the community, expanding vaccination coverage and improving public health outcomes.
• Reduced Administrative Burden: Automation streamlined the appointment process, eliminating the need for manual follow-ups, freeing up staff time, and reducing stress.
• Increased Demand: The success of the implementation was so pronounced that Caradoc Surgery needed to introduce a waiting list for the first time, highlighting the platform’s ability to drive patient engagement and exceed expectations.

Lisa, the practice manager, shared her experience of the programme's success, explaining the unprecedented results:

It's almost as if Appt has been too effective. We filled all of the appointments for the flu vaccine stock that we ordered in advance, which was based on how many vaccinations we administered last year, and we haven't even invited our whole eligible population yet! We have had to start a waiting list for people calling to book their flu jab– this is something we've never had to do before and all of this has been done automatically without us having to do what we usually do in chasing people to book.
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— Lisa, Practice Manager