An innovative application that will help medical practices save time and money on mail outs has been developed by Radstock-based print and post specialist CFH Docmail with EMIS, the UK’s leading supplier of clinical software and related services to GPs.
Called EMIS Mail, it is an easy-to-use application that allows practices to create mail outs – inviting patients to attend flu clinics, for example – in minutes. It can also be used for individual correspondence.
The service operates via a secure online portal and allows practices to create personalised letters which are then securely printed and posted off-site. Crucially, the service automatically updates patient’s record with a copy of the correspondence.
One of the first practices to trial the application is Nova Scotia Medical Centre in Allerton Bywater, Leeds.
Practice Manager Elizabeth Scott is delighted with the results. She said: “We calculated that to send an average letter out, from selecting the patient, setting up the required letter template, inputting the details and updating the medical record, to actually filling and posting the envelope, takes between three and four minutes. Now we can process around 200 in the same time.
“We recently launched a smoking cessation campaign which involved sending a letter to all chronic smokers on our database. The first mail out to 200 patients would have normally taken us hours. Instead it took minutes.”
The application does not just save time. With a cost of only 28p plus VAT per black and white letter (including postage), it can generate significant cost savings.
CFH managing director Dave Broadway said: “This innovative application has the potential to make life a lot easier for practices. Staff can compile their personalised correspondence via the secure portal and with the click of a mouse, action, print and post at less than the cost of a second class stamp.”
CFH’s Docmail fulfillment service which, , has grown by more than 20% per quarter since 2008 and contributes more than £3m a year to CFH’s £28m turnover.
CFH recently signing a new funding arrangement with Clydesdale Bank to continue its fast-paced expansion.
