The challenge
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest and busiest acute hospital trusts in the country, providing specialist services for communities across the Yorkshire and Humber regions. The Outpatient appointment booking at Leeds faced significant operational challenges, particularly for time-critical pathways like the breast two-week wait referrals. The traditional manual calling process was labour-intensive and often caused staff to spend time chasing patients through multiple unanswered calls. This led to appointment delays, duplicated administrative work, missed opportunities to offer patients genuine choice in their appointment times and reduced clinic utilisation rates.
Frontline staff were under pressure, caught in cycles of repeated calling attempts and voicemail management, instead of engaging in productive patient conversations. Timing is critical in urgent pathways, so these inefficiencies were more than operational challenges – the impact on patient outcome and experience was enormous.
Deploying an automated virtual assistant
Working in close collaboration with Netcall, Leeds enrolled in a pilot programme supported by NHS England to implement an automated solution which was tailored specifically to their operational requirements. Our Clinic Utilisation solution centres around a customisable Automated Virtual Assistant.
“Clinic Utilisation has turned the old way of booking clinic appointments on its head. What used to take hours of chasing and manual effort is now a lean, automated process helping teams work smarter, not harder. And crucially, it makes it easier for patients to be seen sooner.”
Rob Child
Programme Manager, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The solution
Leeds deployed an Automated Virtual Assistant (AVA) to streamline appointment booking for critical pathways, particularly the Two Week Wait (2WW) breast cancer referral pathway. This customisable AVA fundamentally reverses the traditional booking approach.
Rather than staff repeatedly calling patients, the AVA system proactively reaches out to patients on waiting lists with available appointment options. The process begins with an SMS notification sent 30 minutes before the automated call, significantly improving patient engagement rates.
When the call connects, AVA identifies and verifies the patient before presenting available appointment dates and times. Once patients select their preferred option, they are seamlessly transferred to a booking staff member who has all necessary patient information already displayed on their screen. This patient-first automation ensures that messaging and call timing are optimised for higher connection and conversion rates. Patients can secure their appointments immediately without waiting.
The results were remarkable. Patient choice booking rates increased from 70% to 95%. And staff productivity soared to 100% during booking activities.
Clinic Utilisation’s flexibility extends beyond urgent pathways – it can be deployed for any available appointment capacity. The dynamic booking capability allows Leeds’ staff to rapidly upload and fill short-notice capacity, maximising clinic utilisation in real-time.
The automated calls also capture and update patient demographic information, improving data quality across the Trust’s systems.
Leeds can now maximise clinic utilisation across multiple scenarios, all while maintaining a patient-centred approach.
The deployment of Clinic Utilisation showed notable efficiency, with the system going live across three specialties in less than a month. The initial focus on the Breast Two Week Wait pathway provided a clear testing ground for the technology as one of the Trust’s most time-sensitive booking challenges. The implementation process showcased effective cross-functional collaboration, bringing together digital transformation, clinical, operational and supplier teams.
This collaborative approach ensured that the solution was not only technically sound but also aligned with clinical workflows and patient needs. Additional innovations emerged during implementation, including refined pre-call SMS messaging and GP notification protocols that further enhanced patient trust and uptake rates.
“The transformation achieved with our Clinic Utilisation solution has exceeded expectations. The combination of improved patient experience, enhanced operational efficiency and increased staff satisfaction creates a compelling case for wider adoption of automated booking solutions.”
Rob Child
Programme Manager, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The result
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65% reduction in booking time and administration
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Patient choice booking rates increased from 78% to 95% – In the breast 2WW pathway
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Enhanced patient satisfaction – 36% improved appointment availability and convenience
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Reduced DNA rate – Due to proactive patient engagement
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Operational efficiency – Booking tasks that previously took a day and a half, now completed in a single morning
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Staff achieve 100% productive time – During booking activities and no more time spent leaving voicemails and chasing unresponsive patients
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Staff experience – Significant improvement in team morale and engagement due to reduced administrative burden and increased focus on meaningful patient interactions
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Scalability – Rapid expansion from initial Breast 2WW implementation to four specialties and imminent rollout to Diabetes, ENT, Ophthalmology and Orthopaedics departments as part of a formal implementation across all centralised booking services.
Helping teams work smarter, not harder
Leeds have shown the potential for this approach across the whole NHS, providing a blueprint for other Trusts facing similar Outpatient Booking challenges. As Leeds continues to expand the Automated Virtual Assistant system across additional specialties, they are building valuable insights into how AI-powered patient communication can transform healthcare delivery while maintaining the human touch that patients value.