Today (Monday 21 August) Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (SASH) are launching a new Patient Portal to make it quicker and easier for patients to keep track of appointments, clinical letters and pre-assessments.

The new portal called MySASH will help patients to confirm appointments online, view upcoming appointment times and locations, as well as their discharge summary at the end of any hospital stays or an attendance to our emergency department.

As the system syncs with the NHS app, patients will also be able to receive and access important information such as clinical letters in one place, and complete online health questionnaires before they attend pre- assessment appointments – speeding up the time spent on admin when they arrive on site.

The new portal, which will provide patients with a secure service for their personal information, contributes towards the Trusts’ greener NHS goals by further reducing its paper footprint as well as its ambition to be more financially sustainable.

Ben Emly, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said: “This is an exciting step for us in not only reducing our carbon footprint and contributing to the Trusts’ greener NHS goals, but boosting the experience of tens of thousands of patients by giving them quicker, real-time updates on appointments and letters, as well as helping them complete pre-assessment health questionnaires in advance – speeding up treatment time when they arrive on site for clinical tests and procedures.”

Patients will be able to access the portal via a single URL link and the Trust will continue to use the same appointment booking number to continue to make it as easy as possible for patients or carers to get in contact.

The Trust are also working with its NHS partners across Surrey and Sussex on how it can bring even more services to patients through the portal in the future.

With the NHS’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting for 4.4% of the UK’s total GHG emissions in 2019, there is a recognised need across the sector to reduce its carbon footprint. By 2040 the NHS is aiming to become net-zero.