Waiting lists cuts by 13% at Royal Devon University Healthcare with DrDoctor & Epic integration

Here's the TL;DR

Royal Devon University Healthcare (RDUH) were tackling record-high waiting lists, especially in departments like Rheumatology, with thousands of patients waiting on follow-up care through traditional and inefficient communication methods.

DrDoctor partnered with Epic to develop a first-of-its-kind digital integration that would use SMS-based communication and Epic’s Electronic Health Record system, creating an automated, scalable solution to validate patient follow-ups and prioritise care.

Patients on the waiting list were contacted via SMS and taken through a questionnaire, their responses fed directly back into Epic in real-time.

RDUH saw a 13% reduction in waiting lists and high levels of patient engagement, with over 600 clinical and administrative days projected to be saved, setting a benchmark for digital innovation in NHS productivity.

Rheumatology clinics were overwhelmed with patients waiting for follow-up appointments – and their traditional communication methods only exacerbated this problem.

Calls and letters were no longer efficient. Instead, they were resource-heavy, and poorly suited to modern day patient lifestyles.

As well as this, delays and manual processes hampered clinical teams’ ability to triage effectively, creating undue risk and stress for both staff and patients.

The Trust needed a way to contact patients quickly, gather up-to-date clinical insights, and shift appropriate patients to a Patient Initiated Follow-Up (PIFU) pathway.