If you have a smartphone then you don’t need to wait for your appointment letter to arrive in the post anymore as you can confirm, cancel or rebook your appointment/admission at the click of a button via our patient portal.
Don’t worry about missing a letter as if you don’t open the digital letter, within 48 hours a hard copy will be sent to you in the post. If you don’t have a smartphone, or you’ve not given us your mobile number, you will continue to receive paper letters in the post.
We also offer SMS reminders – look out for a text message 7 days in advance (from 07786 209254) and again 48 hours before your appointment (from ‘NHSNLaG)’ to remind you of the time and date and where to go if it’s a face-to-face appointment or how to access it if it’s a virtual one.
Rollout plan
We’re currently live with digital letters for Outpatient appointments.
Admission letters are the next to go digital. Ophthalmology, ENT and Oral Surgery went live in August 2022. The following services will go live in March 2023:
- Surgery
- Urology
- Women and Children’s
- Breast
- Trauma and Orthopaedics.
Endoscopy will switch on digital letters in April.
Phase three will see Diagnostics, Cardiology and Community and Therapy services go live in 2023/2024.
NHS app
You can now also view your outpatient appointments via the NHS app. Download it today.
How it works
If you have changed your mobile number of want to opt out of digital communications please let us know by emailing nlg-tr.patientaccesscallcentre@nhs.net and include your full name, date-of-birth and postcode, or your NHS number if you know it, so we can update your records. We are also collecting patient email addresses so if you’re happy for us to keep your email on file please let us know so you can benefit from future digital communications, such as being able to view your records online.
Watch this video to see how it works in detail:
What happens when you receive the text message
1. You will receive a text reminder to your smartphone with your appointment/admission details – it will come from ‘NHS NLaG’ and say ‘This is a Patient Portal digital letter invitation from North Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.’ Simply click the link in the text message to take you through to the Portal.
2. When you enter the Patient Portal, put in your date of birth and unique four-digit PIN from the text message. This will take you to your appointment/admission detail page, where you will be able to see the date, as well as hospital and clinic information.
3. Select whether you want to confirm, rebook or cancel your appointment or admission. You can download the letter and/or add the appointment to your own calendar. If you can’t attend the date specified in the letter, you can choose to rebook or cancel your appointment. If you select rebook we will contact you to arrange another date.
When you open your first digital letter from us you’ll be given the option to create a username and password for the patient portal. If you do this you’ll be able to log in to see all your letters in once place, and the next time you get a notification of a new letter it will instead invite you to log in to https://nlag.nhsportal.net/
It’s quick, easy, safe and secure and should the digital letter not be opened within 48 hours the system will automatically print and post a copy out to your address.
We've listened to your feedback
- You now have longer to open the letter – we’ve changed it from 24 to 48 hours before a paper copy is sent out in the post
- We’ve changed it so your name will be on the text message so A) you know it’s a genuine message for you, and B) if you’re a parent you’ll know which child the letter is for before you open it.
Benefits
With digital 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 phone
- Add the date of your appointment/admission to your phone’s calenday
- Help save the Trust printing and postage costs, which is better for the environment too
What a revelation! I was able to read a letter addressed to me without needing ‘an outsider’ to read a private and confidential letter to me. Thank you, what a difference this is going to make!
Colin Boyce, visually impaired patient
I just wanted to give you feedback on the patient portal – it is excellent. So easy to use and time saving.
Wendy, Ophthalmology patient
