To ask the Minister of Health to detail (i) any assessment made of the postal services currently utilised by Health and Social Care Trusts for issuing patient correspondence, including appointment letters; and (ii) whether the use of economy postal products is meeting the needs of patients, particularly in light of reports of missed or late appointments due to delayed delivery.

The Department has not carried out an assessment of the postal service currently utilised by the Health and Social Care Trusts and no assessment has been made as to whether use of economy postal products is meeting the needs of patients.

However, to minimise any patient inconvenience, Trusts have implemented a dual notification system for appointment reminders. In addition to sending appointment letters to patients, Trusts also use text message reminders to notify patients of their upcoming appointments in most services.

Furthermore, the Encompass system is now fully operational across Northern Ireland. All patients and service users will be able to securely access a subset of their health and social care record via the My Care application, which provides secure online access to personal health information such as appointment letters, clinic letters, medication details, and some test results. They can also view appointments and track the progress of their treatment