NHS Humber Health partners with DrDoctor to launch digital tools

NHS Humber Health Partnership (HHP) has partnered with DrDoctor to launch a range of patient-facing digital tools aimed at improving communication and outpatient engagement.

The partnership will see NHS HHP’s Hull University Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG) go live with a suite of digital services including notifications and reminders, digital letters, basic rescheduling, broadcast messaging and the ‘Quick Question’ tool, which will be accessible via the NHS App.

Rollout began on 30 July 2025 with a two-week pilot programme in the neurology speciality at HUTH. The pilot includes all tools except for patient-led scheduling, which will follow later.

Andy Haywood, group chief strategy, partnerships and digital officer at NHS HHP, said: “Our new patient led booking service will transform the way in which our patients interact with their care.

“This new service will see an end to patients receiving a letter with an appointment they can’t make and then having to wait long periods on the phone to try and rebook.

“We’re really excited to be commencing rollout of digital, patient led booking which will bring our services in line with what we expect in every other aspect of our daily lives.”

The tools will be accessible on an opt-out basis, making the service automated for patients, empowering them to self-manage their care and increasing reach for the trust.

Following the initial pilot, the tools will be rolled out across HUTH and  NLaG.

NHS HHP’s contract with DrDoctor is set for three years, with options for two further extensions.

The trust will be able to send messages straight to a patient’s mobile phone, such as notifying if clinics are being held in a different location in the hospital, and if there is an earlier appointment slot opening up which a patient may want to take advantage of.

The service can also be used to ask a patient simple yes or no questions, such as checking if they can still attend an appointment, allowing the hospital to offer it to someone else if they are unable to make it, which in turn is expected to reduce waiting times.

Meanwhile, in June 2025, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust awarded a patient engagement portal contract worth £572,000 to DrDoctor.

The trust hopes to use DrDoctor’s solution to introduce a hybrid model of care that fuses digital tools with in-person services to improve communication with patients, reduce missed appointments, and support patients across their care journey.