One portal. Ten fewer phone numbers.

The challenge in the NHS

Across many NHS regions, patients must navigate over 10 different phone numbers just to chase or change appointments, test results, or referrals. It's no wonder that the NHS had 8.4 million missed appointments across outpatient appointments last year, and over 16.6 million calls to 111 alone, with such a complex system.

This fragmentation leads to:

• Duplicated assessments and inconsistent workflows.
• Millions of admin hours wasted each year on chasing and re-entering information.
• Longer patient pathways, avoidable delays, and rising dissatisfaction.
• Missed appointments costing over £1.2 billion annually - this represents resources tied up in slots that could have been used for others.

The result is more calls to booking lines, more repeat contacts, and more staff time tied up in non-clinical tasks - rather than direct patient care.

A parallel from policing

Thames Valley Police and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabularyfaced a similar challenge. Citizens had to call multiple numbers to track their cases. Around 50% of non-emergency calls were “failed demand” – requests for updates, or changes of appointments that could have been delivered digitally.

“We were taking thousands of calls that didn’t need to come into the control room at all. People just wanted an update, and we wanted to give that to them at pace, but also save our team time.” - Superintendent Rob Brind, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary

The tailored policing solution the NHS could benefit from

In 2023 Infomentum worked with Thames Valley Police and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, who faced the same challenges. Abandoned calls and longer wait times for victims of crime who wanted updates. Instead of hiring more staff to solve their problem and meet their goal, the forces launched a Salesforce-powered public portal, integrated with Niche, their record management system, enabling victims of crime to:

• Access real-time updates from a single online point of contact.
  
  
• Receive proactive SMS and email notifications the moment an update was available to keep them informed.
  
  
• Self-serve from a library of over 300 knowledge articles where people could look for reassurance and answers to some of the most common questions.
  
  

“It’s about giving people confidence they’re being kept informed without having to pick up the phone.” - Superintendent Rob Brind, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary

This proactive communication reduced repeat contact dramatically. Citizens didn’t need to keep chasing, because they knew they’d be told as soon as something changed – a key driver behind the 15% increase in public trust.

Explore the full policing story and the results behind the numbers.