Anticipated release date:
End of November
This settings page is anticipated to be utilised as a one-off set up, then revisited for any tweaks or adjustments rather than being a day-to-day adjustment.
There are 4 sections;
1) Using SMS Functionality Control
The messaging service is currently an integrated element of the PRO subscription. The costs associated with this service can be found here.
If you would prefer your Practice to not use Practice Toolkit to send SMS (Texts) to patients deselect this toggle.
This will disable being able to send SMS and Staff will only be able to record that they have sent an invite using an alternative system.
2) Message Templates
Each Template will have:
Names (this is used to select the relevant template to use from the Monthly Overview or Patient Summary pages)
Message Content - the blue boxes are 'placeholders', when the SMS is sent, these will show the relevant patient's details so that you can personalise your messages.
Actions - Edit or Delete (deletion cannot be undone)
You can create your own Practice SMS templates but adapting the default options, or clicking on 'Create Template' in the top right. This will open a new window for you to create or edit the template Name (which must be unique to each template) or Content.
Placeholders
Just type in the message and click on a placeholder to add it into the message.
Please be careful with spacing around placeholders to avoid grammar e.g. MrJones would need a space between the [Patient Title] and [Patient Surname].
If the patient details don't exist in the Clinical System they won't be loaded into Practice Toolkit, adding info into Clinical System will need a new data upload to sync into Practice Toolkit.
If placeholder information is missing it simply won't be included in the message. e.g. if the title is missing then "[Patient Title] [Patient Surname]" would simply read " Jones" these messages can be previewed before sending.
Please note that we would discourage you from including any sensitive patient information in SMS messages in line with NHS Digital's advice around SMS usage.
The character count is an estimate (as placeholders will vary by patient). Longer messages may require multiple segments (impacting cost) even though they will be sent as and display as a single message.
3) Invite Sequencing
To enable the 'Send Next' functionality when sending SMS from Monthly Overview or Patient Summaries, select which templates you wish to use for each invite.
There are 4 options, the fourth selection will be re-used if sending more than 4 invites to the same patient (for the same recall month)
Templates must be created/edited in the section above to be used in the sequencing.
To change the template selected, click the dropdown for the relevant attempt and scroll to select an alternative. this will automatically save and take immediate effect. NB already triggered but delayed batch emails will use the template at the time they were triggered to send.
4) Send Delays for Batch Sending
When sending SMS in bulk this could be overwhelming for reception/booking processes.
This section allows you to automatically space out these invites so they can triggered simply and quickly but sent out in a way which is helpful for other Practice Staff.
Select the number of SMS messages to send in each batch (from 1 to 9999)
Select how long to delay between sending (minutes, hours, days)
Select the hours to send between
Note that the delay will use the date/time of the bulk sending being started as the anchor. e.g. sending 200 messages (in batches of 50 every 1 hour between 08:00 and 16:00) at 13:52 will send 50 at 13:52, then 50 at 14:52, then 50 at 15:52 then 50 at 08:52 the next morning.