Letters from NHS Lothian sent electronically
We’re moving over to sending letters electronically meaning you can view your administration letters on your mobile phone, tablet or computer.
Across NHS Lothian we send a high volume of letters by post each month. To help us reach patients quicker, reduce costs and reduce the environmental impact, we are moving to sending our administration letters electronically where possible. By administration letters, we mean letters such as Outpatient appointment letters, Cancellation letters, Add to Waiting List or Re-scheduled appointments etc.
If you have a mobile phone then you don’t need to wait for your administration letter to arrive in the post anymore as you will receive notification to view your letter at the click of a button via our online portal.
Don’t worry about missing a letter as if you don’t open the electronic letter- within 48 hours a hard copy paper version will be sent to you by post. If you don’t have a mobile phone, or you’ve not given us your mobile number, you will continue to receive paper letters in the post.
Benefits
With electronic letters you can:
- Change the text size of your letter, zoom in or out
- Have the letter read out to you
- Change the letter to another language
- Download the letter to your device (phone, tablet, laptop, computer), securely email it to yourself or someone else or print it if desired
- Automatically add the date of your appointment/admission to your phone’s calendar at the click of a button
- Save the printing and postage costs for NHS Lothian, which is also better for the environment as well
Rollout plan
Go Live date: April 2024 for first phase of letters with all patient administration letters due to be available by March 2025.
Later phases will include Outpatient, Inpatient and Radiology patient administration letters.
If you change your mobile phone number, please make sure you let us know so that we can continue to send text notifications to you.
