Doncaster trust speeds up GP letters

Published: 12-Jan-2012

Digital dictation halves turnaround time for patient correspondence


The time it takes Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to provide clinical correspondence to GPs has been halved following the introduction of digital dictation technology.

The trust’s clinical correspondence system, MedisecTrust, was integrated with Talking Point Digital Dictation last year, automatically matching dictated clinical notes with PAS patient details to produce clinic attendance letters at the touch of a button. As a result the average time taken to deliver clinical correspondence to GPs has been slashed from eight to four days.

“Nearly a third are being delivered within the 24-hour target we set ourselves and we are confident we can improve on this over the coming months,” said Julie Ekins, service improvement manager at the trust.

Jay Dugar, consultant ENT surgeon, added: “Digital dictation is an obvious improvement on analogue, but to hit the 24hour delivery target, we needed to take the paper out of both the approvals process and the way letters were subsequently delivered.”

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