Mental health provider offers appointment alerts through NHS App

Mental health provider Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust has partnered with DrDoctor to offer appointment notifications through the NHS App.

Pennine Care provides mental health, learning disability and autism services, covering a population of more than 1.3 million people across Greater Manchester.

Through the DrDoctor patient engagement platform, patients and staff can manage appointments, receive digital communications, and complete forms online, while the NHS App integration allows patients to access their mental health care information.

Monique Duffy-Brogan, chief information officer at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We hope to pave the way for other mental health trusts looking to improve their digital services.

“By investing in digital tools, we’re providing long-term solutions for our local communities that improve patient experience and care.

“Our partnership with DrDoctor is part of wider goal to make mental health care more accessible and reduce the administrative burden on our clinical teams.”

A pilot, which began at the end of November 2025 and runs until the end of March 2026, is allowing patients to see their upcoming appointments through an online portal, making it easier to keep track. This will also reduce administrative processes for clinical teams.

Online forms will be rolled out later this year, allowing patients to complete questionnaires used for care planning before appointments and enabling clinicians to review information beforehand.

Digital letters will also begin being sent out later in 2026 via text or email so that patients don’t have to wait for letters to arrive by post.

Nick Barlow, transformation director at DrDoctor, said: “We’re building a forward-thinking NHS where community and mental health services aren’t an afterthought.

“Currently, more than 1.7 million people are waiting for non-emergency mental health support in England.

“To combat this, we need to free up time and processes for staff.  t’s not about forcing digital on patients, it’s about making services available digitally, when patients need them.”

The partnership supports the vision in the NHS 10 year health plan of bringing care closer to home and ensuring mental health services have access to the same digital tools as physical health services.

DrDoctor moved into the mental health and community support space in 2024 when it acquired personal health record platform Maia.

The app, which has been integrated into DrDoctor’s patient engagement platform, allows patients to view, book, amend and cancel their appointments, complete questionnaires, access their care plans, view clinical documents and access their health information.

Meanwhile, in June 2025, Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust awarded a £572,000 contract to DrDoctor to introduce a hybrid model of care that fuses digital tools with in-person services.