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More than 128,000 patients registered, dozens of trees saved and tens of thousands of appointment letters kept from print and post – all thanks to the introduction of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells (MTW) NHS Trust’s patient portal a year ago.

Since the launch last October, MTW’s patient portal – Patients Know Best (PKB) – has been helping users quickly and easily access their health information on their phones, computers and tablets and take advantage of a host of features.

This includes viewing appointment details, appointment letters, clinical correspondence, discharge notifications and additional health information online. Patients are also easily able to request to cancel or reschedule an appointment, all of which saves them time and avoids a call to the hospital administrative teams.

As well as a range of benefits to patients, the portal also has green credentials. In just one year more than 100,000 letters have been viewed on the online portal which means less printing and less post. And all that paper represents over 36 40 ft trees.

To highlight the eco-friendly benefits of the portal, MTW and PKB chief executives, Miles Scott and Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli took part in a ceremonial tree planting on the one-year anniversary of the portal launch on 15 October.

The tree, which was planted near the entrance of Tunbridge Wells Hospital, also symbolises a pledge made by MTW and PKB to continue to develop the portal to further reduce carbon output and paper use at the Trust.

MTW Chief Executive, Miles Scott said: “Our Outpatient departments see over half a million patients every year and over the last 12 months the portal has played such an important role in helping patients manage areas of their care in an easy and convenient way.

“We’ve received fantastic feedback about how it has saved patients time on the phone and they really like being able to amend appointments and read letters immediately after instead of waiting for the post – all easily available by a click of a button on their personal devices.

“It has also been great to see how the portal is supporting our work to become more sustainable. One year into this project and the results are already really encouraging. We look forward to building on this success and increasing the features the portal offers.”

Patients Know Best Chief Executive, Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli said: “As a Social Enterprise and a Net Zero company, we take our commitment to the environment very seriously and are thrilled to witness the rapid adoption of digital solutions. Currently, over 19,000 patients are now using the portal on a weekly basis and we are already in the planning stages with MTW of adding referral letters into PKB as well as automating the validation of waiting lists. We look forward to continuing to work closely with MTW to support their patient experience, clinical transformation and sustainability goals.”

Jane Stoneham from Maidstone began using the portal after she broke her leg last year: “The portal has really helped me, it’s so simple to use and the features it offers also means the hospital can book more patients in to cancelled appointments and get us all the care we need quickly”

The portal is fully integrated with the NHS app. As it is developed it will offer access to test results, questionnaires, care plans, information about allergies, medication lists, discharge notes and other health information.

A video has also been developed to demonstrate how the portal works and highlighting the many benefits.

Patients can register for the portal via this webpage and find out more information.