Xyla Health Services

Hybrid Mail Healthcare case study

Xyla, part of the Acacium group, are a trusted leader in innovative, high-quality healthcare services - from prevention to specialised treatment and dedicated care in the home and community whenever needed. Xyla partner with the NHS, local authorities and specialist providers to improve lives and ease demand on the healthcare system.  

With services spanning primary and secondary care, teams within Xyla focus on streamlining healthcare processes and improving patient engagement. This requires a reliable output of patient communication in an accessible and appropriate format. Docmail has simplified this endeavour, making it significantly easier to track patient care workflows, notably within the lung health check programme. 

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The Brief

Xyla’s work includes referral management and clinical capacity care across both primary and secondary care settings, with initiatives such as the lung health check programme launched nationally. A key consideration for these services is that patients receive timely and effective communication regarding screening programs - particularly those designed for early disease detection, as is the case for lung health.  

The initial outreach strategy relied on postal communication, with patients receiving a printed letter and an NHS-provided booklet outlining essential information. Recognising the importance of physical mail in prompting action, Xyla also implemented a secondary contact method. The same patient group was referred to an external call centre, which followed up by phone, offering patients the option to call in themselves or wait for a scheduled outreach call. If patients did not respond to the first letter, a follow-up mailing was sent as a second invitation and reminder. 

While this process was effective in reaching patients, the administrative burden of managing bulk mailings manually was significant. Xyla needed a more streamlined, scalable, and cost-effective solution to enhance their healthcare communication strategy - one that would maintain reliability while reducing time-consuming operational tasks. 

The Solution

Though Docmail is used widely by healthcare organisations - over 75% of medical practices in England utilise the system – the partnership between Xyla and CFH began by chance. Docmail hybrid mail was introduced to Xyla’s Business Manager following an interaction on LinkedIn. The Docmail system offers users an online postal management hub, that enables organisations to send printed letters from their desktop or PC. The solution provides the ability to create, manage, and send bespoke printed letters, including additional inserts, from a secure online platform. Orders are produced in-house at CFH’s impressive production facility – providing the security assurances that Xyla require. 

Easy to use, flexible, and acting as a virtual print and mail room for bespoke postal requirements, both bulk and small-batch, Xyla were keen to trial Docmail within their patient workflow operations. It was identified early on that the efficient Print Driver extension would be an ideal option for sending both large-scale, merge-tagged mailings and smaller, highly targeted letters depending on the stage of the patient’s journey. The use of both the Docmail Web Portal and Print Driver would mean enhanced efficiency and a flexible task-dependent approach. 

Docmail was rolled out within Xyla for their pre-referral management programs and communication management. Early on, Xyla decided to implement the solution for preventive care management, including their ongoing project of early lung disease detection. Part of a proposed three-year project, Docmail was introduced to streamline the whole process while providing a dedicated and easily accessible reporting system for mailing details and spend. 

The Process

With the team at Xyla briefed on Docmail, and initial training carried out by the in-house CFH support team, strategies were set in place for the lung health check workflow. The initial letter, inbound call and follow-up letter approach works well, and is made possible thanks to Docmail’s seamless SystemOne integration. The initial letter is seen as a trustworthy form of contact, with follow-up communications serving as a secondary prompt, reinforcing the importance of attending screening appointments.  

Physical direct mail has an important part to play within these workflows, as it had been noted by Xyla that mail is not only more trusted by recipients but also seen as a more formal channel for delivering negative news, such as the outcome of some screenings. Put simply, individuals would rather receive information in a direct mail format when receiving ‘bad news’, rather than an SMS message or online communication. 

Xyla primarily uses the Web Portal for high-volume, bulk mailings, efficiently distributing thousands of individually targeted letters weekly. The Print Driver is used for smaller, ad-hoc mailings, particularly for follow-up letters when email communication is unavailable. Once a patient is accepted into a programme and scheduled for a scan, printed letters remain a requirement for confirming attendance and delivering critical results. 

Throughout the partnership the Docmail support team have been instrumental in assisting with template modifications and process enhancements. Their prompt and reliable service has provided essential support, ensuring smooth operation and quick resolution of any issues. The team are familiar with Xyla’s workflow process, and resolve issues promptly, with the importance of these time-sensitive and highly personal patient communications in mind. 

The results

Using Docmail hybrid mail enables Xyla to interact with digitally disengaged patients, allowing essential healthcare information to be communicated effectively in a trusted and secure format. Postal communication adds credibility to patient engagement, reinforcing trust in healthcare messaging and ensuring patients act when required. Docmail has also expanded Xyla’s ability to reach patients who are at higher risk and require ongoing monitoring. Now, reminder and re-invitation letters are sent to those due for follow-up scans, ensuring that critical patients are not lost in the system.  

Operationally, the solution has provided a cost-effective and flexible alternative to managing and sending print and post communications. It has streamlined administrative processes, significantly reducing time spent on manual mailing tasks and allowing more resources to be reinvested into frontline care. Since November 2023, Xyla have sent over 200,000 letters, a figure expected to rise as their projects progress. With plans to expand their use of Docmail further, Xyla are confident that hybrid mail will continue to be a crucial component of their patient engagement strategy, as they trial the system for further patient screening processes.  

Docmail completely streamlines the sending of postal communications for the lung disease prevention program. The solution enables us to send documents instantly with ease, through a flexible and efficient process. In particular, the support team are incredibly helpful - almost like old friends, who are always on hand to answer questions and provide support when needed. I would recommend the use of Docmail to other organisations who engage with their audiences via post.

Business Manager,
Xyla

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