Orange has launched Health Gateway applications, which allows mobile technology to become an integral part of the way healthcare providers communicate with patients and employees.

The new applications allows hospitals, doctors’ surgeries and pharmacies to use mobile communications to transform patient services and increase efficiency through a selection of two-way messaging modules.

The company said that the new application helps every healthcare organisation get messages to patients and employees quickly and easily, whether to remind them of upcoming appointments, improve the communication of test results, speed up the resourcing of replacement nurses or improve patient adherence to medication.

In addition, the Health Gateway is available as a series of modules that can be selected to meet healthcare customers’ specific needs.

The Appointment Reminders module enables organisations to send timely, personalised appointment reminders to patients and manage cancellations and confirmations, which could reduce the number of wasted appointment slots.

Additional Messaging modules from the Health Gateway enables healthcare providers to track and communicate routine medical results to patients; distribute emergency contact messages to employees in case of an incident; and send and receive employee messages to help with effective resourcing, particularly when reaching out to contract staff.

Orange UK head of corporate propositions Michael Lawrence said that the Health Gateway offers the healthcare sector the opportunity to improve patient services and deliver real savings by capitalising on the everyday use of mobile.

"It enables healthcare providers to make better use of time and resources, at a time when efficiency gains are front of mind. As well as helping to provide excellent patient care through shorter waiting lists and quicker updates, healthcare organisations can also transform their entire communications system, proving that technology and partnerships can enable real change," Lawrence said.