Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has launched a "Digital First" programme that makes the NHS App and SMS messaging its main channels for sending appointment details and clinical updates to patients. The trust says the change is intended to modernise how it communicates with the people it treats.

The programme sits within a seven-year digital and data plan that runs to 2033. That plan also sets out how the trust intends to deploy artificial intelligence across its clinical, operational, workforce and patient management functions. The communications change is therefore an early, visible step in a much longer programme of technological development.

Under the revised model, electronic delivery becomes the default. The trust expects this to reduce the delays that come with postal services and to make it simpler for patients to view their records. A letter sent through the NHS App can reach a patient on the day it is issued, whereas a posted letter may take several days and can be lost or misdirected.

Patients who cannot use digital platforms, or who would rather not, will continue to receive paper letters. Trust leaders stressed that this option will remain in place. The commitment matters because a sizeable minority of patients do not have a smartphone, a reliable data connection or the confidence to use health apps. Older people and those on low incomes are among the groups most often identified as at risk of exclusion when services move online.

The local change follows direction set nationally. NHS England has issued standards on how planned care providers communicate with patients, including a requirement that people on waiting lists receive an update at least every 12 weeks. Digital channels give trusts a faster and cheaper way to meet that obligation, since a message can be sent to many patients at once and read within minutes. Digital inclusion protocols accompany the standards and require that paper-based access be available on request.

The NHS App is the national patient-facing service, and trusts across England have been encouraged to connect their systems to it so that letters, appointment details and test information appear in one place. For a trust such as Mid Cheshire, which serves communities around Crewe and Northwich, default electronic delivery brings local practice into line with that national approach.

Other trusts have already reported results from similar changes. University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust said that digital correspondence overtook physical mail for the first time in March 2026. The proportion of letters it sends digitally rose from 20 per cent to 68 per cent. The figures show how quickly patient behaviour can shift once electronic delivery is offered as the standard option, although the Sussex trust's patient population differs from that of Mid Cheshire and the same rate of uptake cannot be assumed.

Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust has taken a different route by investing in a dedicated platform. It has contracted the patient portal provider Zesty until March 2027. The agreement is intended to expand multichannel communication, and it also covers virtual consultations and remote monitoring. Portals of this kind allow patients to receive messages, attend some appointments remotely and share health readings from home, which extends digital contact beyond the delivery of letters.

Taken together, the three trusts illustrate the range of approaches now in use across acute care. Mid Cheshire has chosen to build on the national NHS App and text messaging. Sussex has reported measurable adoption figures, and Princess Alexandra has opted for a commercial portal with a fixed contract term.

For patients in Mid Cheshire, the practical effect will be most noticeable at the point of contact. Those who use the NHS App can expect appointment details and clinical updates to arrive electronically by default, while anyone who prefers paper can ask for it. The trust has not suggested that the paper option will be withdrawn.

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