Emis Web users - iMail

[Lianne Bird]

Hi everyone, my Practice has received an email regarding iMail.

It says:
iMail is now official partners of emis and is currently working closely with 100’s of NHS practices across the UK to send out their patient letters, flu reminders, recall letters and any other information in a more cost effective and streamline manner.

Do any of you Emis Web users use this?

Lianne

[Stuart Hall]

Hi Lianne

We use Docmail instead of Imail. Same sort of idea and should be implemented the same way...

It gives you a "virtual" printer on the machine and instead of printing to the printer on your desk, you print to the Virtual Printer. This then gets converted to a pdf and printed, folded, posted at a central location.

As a practice we use it wherever and whenever we can. Saves us time (no printing, folding, inserting into envelopes) and money (envelopes, paper, stamps). Also means that I can send out 400 letters in minutes instead of hours.

If you use the Mail Merge function in Emis too, then by setting up the document properly, it will save a copy of the letter in the notes and depending on what code you have set for the document in Emis, it will code it also.

I used it for the main bulk of Flu invite letters this year. I use it weekly for Cervical Smear Recalls, Child imm recalls, daily "Make an appointment" letters. It is a great time saver.

By the way, Docmail is an Emis partner as well and gives the same security too.

Stuart

[Lianne Bird]

We use Docman but we literally just use it to scan patients letters on and view them, nothing else.

We mail merge in emis too, especially from searches we've run, like you say it saves so much time!

I'll look into the other side of Docman then. Thank you, you always have the answer

[Stuart Hall]

Hey Lianne
It's not Doc man.  It is docmail. Completely different entity and not related. Look up "cfh docmail" on Google.
Regards
Stuart

[Lianne Bird]

I think I had an email about that not so long ago. Thank you, I'm glad I met you! I bet your hating it, we all need you ;o)

[Christine W]

I've heard about docmail but we don't use it. We use mail merge and stuff envelopes ourselves but we are a relatively small practice

[Stuart Hall]

Hi Christine

Being able to merge and do a virtual print to Docmail is a great time saver.  while you think it wont really make a difference once you add up all the minutes it takes to fold, insert, seal and frank/stamp the letters it really does.  being able to do all that with a couple of clicks in seconds turns into a huge saving.  

As an example work out how long it took to print all your flu recall letters. say for instance 400 letters. then how long it took to fold them into 3 making sure they fit in the windows of the envelope properly. then you have to insert them into the envelope and seal them.  next comes franking the envelope or putting a stamp on the bloody thing.  Next is the practice stamp on the back of the envelope incase it goes missing. Last thing to do is then take them to the post box.
couple of hours maybe?? or you had a team of 4 or 5 do it all together conveyor belt style.

compare that to: Mail merge from Emisweb to virtual docmail printer. couple of clicks. done. five/ten minutes max using 1 person.  the letters are printed, folder, inserted, franked, posted after you have finished.

Thought provoking or what.

Stuart

[Lianne Bird]

Sorry something completely different now. How is your dementia register looking on QOF? Mine isn't right and I didn't know if it was a global emis issue or just ours! I will try and report it on Monday if its just us. We have got 41 patients on the register and 36 have had the review but it is only showing 1% have had the review! When you look at the excluded patients it is showing the entire practice and not the 5 patients that are missing! Are you two having the same problem?

[Stuart Hall]

Hi Lianne

Global problem with Dem004 as they (EMIS) are searching against the whole practice population instead of your dementia register denominator.  Check manually.

Find [DEM004] in the Dementia Denominator folder and note figure eg: 40.

calculate true figure 100 divide by [DEM004] 40 and multiply by DEM004 36 = 90%.

Emis will fix it on the next update.

Regards

Stu

[Lianne Bird]

Is there anything you don't know! Thank you. See you next week.

Lianne

[Christine W]

There is so much I don't know about Emis. We've only been on the system 3 months and there's loads I don't know about or know how to do yet.
Thanks for these tips guys, really useful

[Lianne Bird]

If you need any help Christine just ask. We've been on it for 2 1/2 years now and I'm still finding out new things. I love Emis!

[Christine W]

Hi guys,
Is anyone else feeling a little despondent with grading etc?

[Lianne Bird]

Hi Christine,
Yes completely! I personally think the course is pretty crap if I'm honest, I think it’s quite badly organised. My business case 1.4 and 1.5 had been marked yesterday but I didn't have an email to tell me, I happened to see it because I signed in today and looked! I think it’s terrible, we are meant to make the changes in 5 days but they can't even be bothered to email to tell you it’s been marked. Also I had 1.2 and 1.3 marked, approved pending changes, I uploaded it (once I'd made the changes) on the 17th December and it hasn't been looked at since and apparently won't be according to Debbie. How do they even know we've changed it properly if they are not going to remark it!? I don't know about you but so far I wouldn't recommend this course to anyone wanting to be a Practice Manager. Rant over lol

[Christine W]

I'm quite glad you are feeling the same Lianne - in a nice way of course!
I've had 1.2 and 1.3 marked again and failed again! I didn't have an email either, I found it by accident too. If it weren't for the people on this course I think I'd have quit by now and of course Debbie is lovely but she's not the one doing the marking. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone either, it's causing me a lot of unnecessary stress!!

[Lianne Bird]

The only thing getting me through this course is the thought of the diploma at the end of it because I think the course is a complete waste of time and like you say it causes unnecessary stress! Have you actually learned anything yet because everything we've been taught so far is just common sense to me? As for this business plan we're doing, what a waste of time. I'm doing mine on changing clinical systems because I couldn't think of anything else (and our CCG want our locality to be on one clinical system) but I'm not going to present it to the partners at the end of it because I don't want to change clinical systems and we're digging our heals in so we don't have to. My Practice Manager has worked here for years and has never had to do a business plan. If you get stuck on anything or want me to read over any of your work you can always email it to me (Liannebird@nhs.net), I don't know about your Practice Manager but mine is too busy to help me, luckily I've got a couple of girls here that check what I've done and offer suggestions.

[Christine W]

This s exactly how I feel. I don't really feel like I'm actually learning anything new, it's just reinforcing what we already know.
My PM is supportive but busy. It's the business case which is giving me the most grief tbh. I'm doing mine on improving patient engagement and they keep rejecting it even though I change the title and make all the changes they suggest. I think it's a waste of time too! I wonder if the groups have these kind of problems every year?
As for the website, it's the most difficult thing to use and not very user friendly at all!
I'll drop you an email - mine is Christine.whitehead5@nhs.net

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