Debate contribution: Hospital Appointments: Postal Services
Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on .
- MLA
- Mr Mike Nesbitt
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 5 May 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Hospital Appointments: Postal Services
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5524632
Read the official Assembly record
Text
My Department is committed to working with the health and social care trusts to continually improve communication methods with all patients, ensuring that they have the best possible experience and access to care. The trusts maintain oversight of postal delivery performance through established contractual and supplier arrangements. Where concerns have arisen regarding delays in patient correspondence, those can be raised through appropriate channels, including contract management discussions and engagement with contracted postal service providers such as Postal Sort. Ongoing monitoring is in place to help identify and address delivery issues. The aim is to reduce the risk of missed appointments and ensure timely communication with patients and clients. To help reduce the number of "did not attends" (DNAs), the trusts frequently use text messages as reminders, alongside sending appointment letters to notify patients of upcoming appointments. The My Care app enables patients and service users to securely access a subset of their care record, including information such as appointment letters, with the aim of reducing DNAs. That aims to provide a timely and convenient method of communication, especially when postal services may be delayed, giving patients the opportunity to cancel or reschedule, thereby ensuring that valuable appointment slots can be offered to others.
203 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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