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NHS SBS launches £250m patient communication framework
The procurement framework aims to help NHS organisations buy products and services to help communicate with patients more efficiently
NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) has launched a £250m communications framework focused on patient and citizen communications.
The framework includes suppliers with a range of services from chatbots, mail processing, SMS messaging and mobile patient feedback systems.
The NHS has long been working to tackle long waiting times and missed appointments with the use of technology, and the framework aims to make it easier for organisations to make safe decisions on which systems to implement by offering a list of vetted suppliers.
NHS SBS senior category manager Kelly Harris said effective communication is vital, particularly in the NHS, when “lives can depend on it”.
“Unfortunately, NHS organisations aren’t always quick to adopt new communication technologies – some trusts are still using fax machines and analogue pagers,” she said. “Using a framework agreement like ours enables all public sector organisations to swiftly and compliantly procure reliable and cost-effective ways of communicating with their patients, staff and service users.”
The framework consists of seven lots, including digital communication, such as automated communication services such as portals and smartphone apps, digital messaging, and SMS, voice communication and hybrid mail services.
It also includes patient experience products, workforce communication and combined offerings, encompassing several of these elements with a single supplier.
Missed appointments
Missed appointments cost the NHS around £1.2bn each year, and in 2024, the government vowed to tackle these with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
Following a six-month pilot at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust in 2023-24, using AI software from Deep Medical to predict the likelihood of missed appointments, the trust found a 30% reduction in patients who did not show up.
Following the pilot, the AI predictor was rolled out at 10 further trusts.
Read more about NHS and technology
- Funding grants from Innovate UK will be used for medical technologies and digital tools such as artificial intelligence and wearables to reduce substance misuse and addiction.
- The 10-year cancer plan promises to transform cancer care through use of artificial intelligence, robotic surgeries and access to genomic testing, all wrapped up in the NHS App as the front door.
- NHS England’s chief technology officer has taken on the same role for government on an interim 12-month fixed-term contract.
The NHS Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, also aimed to get to grips with missed appointments, and reduce waiting times to 18 weeks, while offering greater control and choice for patients over where and when they receive treatment.
The upgrade to the NHS App has resulted in patients requiring non-emergency elective treatment to view and manage appointments at a time and place that is convenient to them.
The app enables patients to choose from a wide range of providers, including in the independent sector, and book diagnostic tests through the NHS App at convenient locations, such as a Community Diagnostic Centres in a local shopping centre – however, it is not yet available in all departments and hospitals.
The NHS received an additional £300m in funding for technology in the 2025 Budget, building on the £10bn allocated for digital spending as part of the 2025 Spending Review.
However, there are concerns that the money, which is capital funding, will be restrictive. Because capital investment is ring-fenced, it is unlikely to allow NHS organisations to invest in technology where it is most needed, such as tackling interoperability and dying legacy systems, instead focusing on the government’s “big wins”, such as the NHS App and the Federated Data Platform.
