Lost in the system: the need for better admin (17 February 2025)

Summary

Most people can agree that how the NHS communicates with people around appointments and ongoing care – whether it is by phone, post, text, app or in person – needs fixing.

Getting the basics of admin right – enabling people to book, change or cancel an appointment, and communicating with people about their care in ways that work for them – matters when it comes to people’s experience of using the NHS and judging how well it is working. Even the Prime Minister signalled the problem of poor admin in a speech on the NHS: ‘I am not prepared to see even more of your money spent… on appointment letters, which arrive after the appointment.’

New polling conducted for this long read reveals that 1 in 5 people who used the NHS in the past 12 months received an appointment invitation after the date of the appointment. This day-to-day dysfunction in how the NHS communicates with people has a negative impact on people’s experience of using the NHS and is driving perceptions of an organisation that is wasting money, time and staff resources.

This piece was written by the Kings Fund, in partnership with Healthwatch England and National Voices.