Patient and citizen communication framework agreement helps public sector organisations boost attendance rates and engagement
London, March 2026 – Leading corporate services provider, NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS), has launched a new procurement framework agreement to help public sector organisations, including NHS trusts, improve the way they communicate with their patients and service users.
The Patient/Citizen Communication, Engagement and Hybrid Mail Solutions framework agreement includes fully-vetted suppliers, who can provide everything from chatbots to SMS messaging to mail processing.
With missed appointments (Did Not Attends, or DNAs) costing the NHS an estimated £1.2 billion each year, providing patients and service users with swift, efficient, two-way communication is vital.
By using a framework agreement, organisations can swiftly and compliantly procure the technology and support they need to ensure that essential communication – like appointment notifications and reminders – are in place, saving time and money.
Other services which can be procured via the new framework agreement include workforce communication, including one and two-way mobile audio messaging and digital pagers; call handling via call centres and the provision of patient portals and smartphone apps.
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.”
The framework agreement consists of seven Lots:
Lot 1: Digital communication, including the provision of automated one- and two-way internet-based communication services such as portals, smartphone apps and email.
Lot 2: Messaging, including the provision of automated one- and two-way digital messaging, SMS, digital paging and alerting.
Lot 3: Voice Communication, including the provision of an agent calls service based in a call centre and Interactive Voice Response (IVR), including intelligent call routing and patient self-service.
Lot 4: hybrid mail, including the provision of on- or off-site bulk mail, both traditional and electronic.
Lot 5: Patient/Citizen experience, including the provision of surveys and feedback analysis and data collection.
Lot 6: Workforce Communication, including the provision of one- and two-way audio messaging, digital paging and alerting services
Lot 7: Combined solutions – encompassing elements from various Lots with a single supplier and a sole contract.
For more information, contact the NHS SBS team at: sbs.hello@nhs.net.
