Press release

Insufficient communication with public threatens NHS IT investments

• Study by ntl:Telewest Business reveals positive impact of e-services on patient care could be stalled by poor public awareness

20 July 2006 - Have you put off seeing your doctor because you find it impossible to book an appointment? Almost a quarter (23%) of people in Great Britain have, according to a major new study from business communications provider ntl:Telewest Business.

The study entitled ‘Digital NHS’ also revealed that the billion pound investment in the rollout of digital services across Great Britain could have a positive impact on improving patient care and tackling long appointment waiting times. However, this improvement could be stalled due to a lack of general public awareness of e-services provided by GPs (General Practitioners) that could hamper their immediate take-up.

More than half (54%) of people surveyed didn’t know whether their GP provided electronic appointment bookings, appointment reminders or prescriptions. In addition, more than a quarter (28%) of people had no knowledge of digital services such as NHS Direct Online, Choose & Book, HealthSpace or Track Health Online. These have all been publicised by the government as part of its Connecting for Health programme.

According to the study, the lack of public awareness of digital services can be attributed to insufficient communication. An alarming 92% of people have never been informed about these services.

“Improving public communications will be critical to realising the potential of e-services.”, said Christopher Small, Director of Public Sector at ntl:Telewest Business. “To achieve a return on the billion pound investment Great Britain has made in its IT infrastructure, people need to be better informed on basic e-services nationally. Otherwise this will pose a serious risk to how quickly people embrace the digital NHS and how fast we reap the benefits in different regions.”

The impact of digital services on helping GPs improve patient care was also highlighted by the Digital NHS study. Patients’ failure to attend appointments that they have booked is a well known drain on NHS services, costing the NHS an estimated millions of pounds a year and increasing appointment waiting times.

The study revealed that while nearly one in 10 (9%) respondents had booked appointments at their GPs and then forgotten to attend, more than three quarters (81%) of respondents would have remembered if they had been sent a reminder by phone, email or SMS.

The most cited reasons for missing appointments were a failure to make a record of appointment times (55% of respondents) and appointments being booked too far in advance (39% of respondents).

Small continued: “Beyond the financial burden, a price cannot be estimated for the cost to patient care from increased patient waiting times. Our study shows that digital services have a part to play in helping the NHS tackle some of the serious inefficiencies that are riddling its system. As the rollout of e-services gathers pace across Great Britain, it is vital that the public is kept better informed.”

The ntl:Telewest Business' Digital NHS study 2006, which polled more than 2,200 people across Great Britain, was conducted on behalf of ntl:Telewest Business by public research specialist YouGov. The study sought to examine the public’s awareness of NHS digital services and their likely impact on improving patient care.

Key findings of the research also included:

• 17% of people feel their GP keeps them waiting too long even when they have a scheduled appointment; and 15% are put off seeing their GP because they need to take too much time out of work for an appointment.
• The most preferred methods of receiving appointment reminders were: by email (41% of respondents) and by SMS/text (25% of respondents).
• The public is disappointed with the general level of direct communication they get on public health issues. Nearly one in 10 people (17%) felt that this was bad.
• Digital communications also have a role to play in keeping the public informed. Email (55% of respondents) was the most preferred method for receiving information.

About ntl:Telewest Business

ntl:Telewest Business, part of the UK’s second largest fixed-line telecommunications company, is a leading communications provider to businesses, public sector organisations and service providers in the UK. It delivers a complete portfolio of voice, data and internet solutions nation-wide.

ntl:Telewest Business sales and support teams are located across the UK, in close proximity to our customers, as part of a commitment to deliver superior customer service.

ntl:Telewest Business delivers services over the Group’s £13bn investment  in its state-of-the-art infrastructure giving business customers access to the largest alternative network in the UK.

ntl:Telewest Business is trusted to provide critical communications to high profile customers including: Heathrow's Terminal 5, Birmingham City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council.

ntl:Telewest Business press contacts: