The NHS must increase the use of digital in the vaccination process

With the pressure now on to meet the 13.9 million vaccination target by February 15th, the NHS needs to be integrating intelligent booking systems into the vaccination process. By deploying a Patient Management System (PMS), healthcare professionals can focus more on the vaccination of patients and less on administration duties. 

Fears of people slipping through the net, logistical nightmares of deciding which venues and appointment times and of course people forgetting altogether could be mitigated by using a more digital approach. But what could it offer in practice?

Vaccination Clinics can use the booking module inside our PMS, known as the Priority Platform to:

  • Set up clinic venues and appointment times - the system is flexible for appointment durations to be variable. New venues can be added or removed at any time.
  • Send invitations via email/SMS or letter to people inviting them to their vaccination.
  • Send reminders to patients to attend or rebook their appointments.
  • Patients can book themselves into an appointment to suit them - time/venue or first available.
  • Send confirmation of vaccination delivered to GP IT systems through our interoperability with SystmOne and Vision.
  • The Modular approach of our platform means we could integrate with GP systems to accept GP / HCP referrals if that is required in future.
  • This solution is part of a wider range of options available in the platform, such as volunteering and social prescribing, which is enabling organisations to act rapidly to the pandemic as it continually evolves.

In a digital age, we must use all the tools available to get us through COVID-19. Day-by-day this pandemic continues to take lives and heighten the mental health crisis. This is the biggest mass vaccination campaign in its history and modern technology should be utilised to simplify logistics and speed up the vaccination process. We know we have the software that will ease pressure from both the NHS and healthcare professionals and we urge the government to make use of it.

We are already accustomed to the rapidly changing conditions as we launched our Covid-19 Welfare Platform at the start of the pandemic. The Service, commissioned by Essex County Council and delivered by Provide CIC in partnership with Priority Digital Health, is designed for vulnerable people who need the help of volunteers during this unprecedented time with tasks such as essential shopping and dog walking. We’re more than ready to continue our support for the country with the current vaccination roll-out.

John Dibb, Joint Chief Executive of Priority Digital Health.

Immunisations with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and Oxford-AstraZeneca began on 8th December and 4th January for those in priority groups. This includes care homes residents and staff, frontline NHS staff, everyone over 70 and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.

In total in England, 1,036,605 aged 80 or over have received the first dose, and 960,699 were given to those under 80. There’s a long way to go but we believe the power of digital can help towards streamlining this process.