NHS Boards across Scotland (including Orkney) are using a text message service to ensure patient waiting lists are up to date and that patients still need their appointments or operations.
To help us book patients for their appointment or operation as quickly as possible, we’re testing a new service to help us understand if patients’ needs have changed.
This service will be delivered by the NHS Scotland National Elective Coordination Unit (NECU) in partnership with the digital solutions provider, DrDoctor.
At specific points of the year, patients (who are over 16 years old) who have been waiting over 10 weeks for an outpatient or inpatient appointment or who are a return patient waiting past their recall date and who do not currently have an appointment will receive a text message from 07860 039092 from The National Elective Coordination Unit (NECU).
The text message will include a link to a short survey asking if you still need your appointment or operation followed by a few questions to confirm your identity.
If you do not respond to the text message (or have not supplied the Board with a mobile telephone number), NECU will try to contact you twice by telephone. If you are unable to answer the call, they will leave a voice message asking you to call us back. People who are answering the survey on behalf of someone else must provide the patient’s details at this stage.
If you are unable to respond to both the text and telephone call, you will be contacted by NHS Orkney via letter (a few weeks after) to determine if you still require to remain on the waiting list.
You can find out more information about NECU on the website here, https://www.nhscfsd.co.uk/our-work/national-elective-coordination-unit/
For general enquiries regarding your appointment, you can contact the relevant team via the main reception at The Balfour by calling 01856 888100, likewise if you think you should have been contacted and haven’t, you can call The Balfour on 01856 888100.
Please note, some patients may be contacted via ourselves at NHS Orkney while the waiting list validation process takes place. If you are offered an appointment during this time, please do still attend and if you are called by the NECU team, please confirm you still require to be kept on the list. We don’t anticipate this to be a large number of patients but if you have any questions at all regarding your appointment, please get in touch via the relevant routes above.
For more information on what this means, click on the link below: