With today’s backlog, extended waiting times and stretched resources are challenging to manage for both patients and hospitals. The pathway from pre-surgery to post-operative care stretches over many months, often years, heightening the need to share information and status check with patients to reduce unnecessary calls and missed appointments. As waiting periods increase so too does the risk of patient health decline. Health providers need patients to keep as fit as possible and prepare themselves for upcoming procedures, supporting enhanced recovery and overall outcomes.
Our personal health record (PHR) platform goes beyond transactional administration interactions; we provide clinical engagement capabilities with the data and resources to enable informed decision-making and patient self-care across the perioperative pathway. This improves the patient’s experience and optimises hospital efficiency.
NHS providers can leverage our platform to communicate crucial information at every stage—from referral to treatment to recovery —supporting patients as they wait and helping them prepare effectively. It also enables NHS providers to gather patient data to determine the most suitable care pathways and encourages patients to actively participate in managing and tracking their health conditions. Accessible anytime, anywhere by both patients and professionals, a PHR facilitates timely digital interactions and ensures continuous connectivity throughout the patient's healthcare journey, all seamlessly integrated with the NHS App/NHS login.
Benefits of PKB
Cost effective across pathway solution: utilise one platform to provide a seamless digital solution from referral to rehab across all specialities
Keep in touch: implement eMeet and Greet upon the receipt of a referral with resources to support waiting well and connect at every stage
Improve outpatient optimisation: digital questionnaires and messaging facilitate regular WLV, triaging and pre-op assessments, reducing face-to-face appointments
Reduce follow up appointments: post-op care plans and video messaging enable self-management
Implement PIFU and DIFU: data, measurements & monitoring capabilities along with two-way messaging support informed decision making
Increase NHS App registration: full suite of capabilities accessible through the NHS’s national front door
Activate long-term self-management: discharged with an integrated personal health and care record, every individual leaves better able to manage their ongoing health
As patients navigate through each stage, from referral to recovery, our PHR platform provides continuous support and capabilities to manage the care pathway effectively with the patient as an active participant:
eMeet&Greet: welcome patients into the system
Swiftly engaging all patients on referral through eMeet and Greet, organisations can provide waiting well resources and keep in touch from day one, all easily accessed through the NHS App/Login:
Multi-channel welcome notification: immediate notification via the NHS App when a referral is received
Early onboarding: SMS prompts for unregistered patients to sign up for PKB with NHS login
Automated specialty team referral: direct connection to relevant teams and condition-specific information
Patient triage: questionnaires to optimise waiting list management based on the patient’s preferences and needs
Waiting Well: support patient self-management
Whilst patients wait for their initial assessments/consultation, share information with them to help support them with waiting well and keep them informed of their place on a waiting list:
Early health screening: assessments via questionnaires to triage screen and inform pre-assessment appointments
Shared Decision Support Tool care plans: NHSE validated, condition specific decision support care plans prepare patients for their appointments, inform decision making and support a robust consent process
Waiting Well resources: specialty-specific educational materials are available using PKB’s Library and Care Planning functionality
Waiting List Validation (WLV): ensure accurate waiting list status
Collect data at scale from patients to ensure providers have an accurate view of their waiting list status, and condition progression needed for triage:
Advanced questionnaires: confirm a patient’s status and continued need for an appointment
Health data collection: identify changes in a patient’s conditions or suitability for last-minute cancellations
Keep in touch: improve communication frequency with patients, enhancing their experience
Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust completed their phase one WLV trial in 2023 resulting in 6% of patients requesting to be removed.
Prehabilitation & Pre-Assessment: optimise preparation for procedure
Before a patient’s first appointment/assessment or treatment, information is shared to prepare them for the interaction, and data is collected to ensure treatments and recovery have the best outcome:
Pre-op assessments: use PKB’s questionnaires which include branching logic, scoring,saving of drafts and the ability for unregistered patients to complete questionnaires
Information sharing: use messaging to exchange videos, documents or images in real-time. These messages can be assigned, actioned and archived.
Information sharing: use messaging to exchange videos, documents or images in real-time. These messages can be assigned, actioned and archived.
Patient consent management: collect informed consent digitally ahead of their treatment or surgery
The Orthopeadic Prehabilitation team at Hywel Dda Health Board has used a comprehensive prehab care plan to support over 560 registered patients awaiting treatment.
Post-op Video Messaging
Use our secure messaging function to send patients a personalised video, briefing them on the procedure and providing individual self-care advice:
One step process: upload and send a video message as an attachment via the messaging capability
Multi-channel notification: notify patients via email and the NHS App to access and review information at convenience
Supplementary materials: send images and letters to provide additional information
Answer FAQs: film and store standard post-operative advice in the PKB Library for patients
Coordinate care: patients can share information with caregivers or other clinical teams, reducing the need for follow up appointments
An award winning pilot conducted by Mr Duffy, a Consultant at Harrogate & District NHS Foundation is indicating a 50% reduction in the need for follow up reassurance appointments.
Post-op Care & PIFU: empower self-care at home
When patients leave hospital, digital tools can be used to move them onto a PIFU (Patient Initiated Follow Up), CIFU (Clinician Initiated Follow Up) or DIFU (Data Initiated Follow Up) pathway. This removes unnecessary interactions and enables patients to self-manage and self-monitor, resulting in more productive care:
Dynamic care planning: support aftercare by providing shared care plans and guidance information with patients and wider multidisciplinary teams. Provide discharge advice, symptom tracker, journal and signposting to further help and support
Remote monitoring: patient-generated data can be entered manually and via apps, wearables and devices to support remote care and PIFU pathways. This data can be reviewed at any stage by a clinician (supporting CIFU) or pulled via PKB’s open APIs (supporting DIFU).
Two-way messaging: use patient and professional initiated messaging to communicate changes in condition and quickly offer additional preventative support for remote consultation and assessment, with the ability to exchange images, videos and files
Read more about how PKB is successfully supporting PIFU across different specialises and trusts here