The Patient/Citizen Communication, Engagement and Hybrid Mail Solutions framework agreement includes up to 33 fully-vetted suppliers, who can provide everything from chatbots to SMS messaging to mail processing.

Senior Category manager Kelly Harris said: ‘Effective communication is vital in any organisation – but even more so 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.

‘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.'

Services include appointment notifications and reminders as well as workforce communication, including one and two-way mobile audio messaging and digital pagers, call handling via call centres and patient portals and smartphone apps.

 For more information, contact the NHS SBS team at: sbs.hello@nhs.net.