Digital communications

If you've given us with your mobile phone number or email address, you will now receive a text message or email confirming an appointment when it is booked for you. This confirmation will be followed by reminders before your appointment. 

Text messages will come from +44 7860 039 092. This number is genuine and not a scam. 

To opt-out of receiving future appointment confirmations and reminders by text, you can reply with 'STOP'. 

You can also choose to receive your appointment information by text and/or email by updating their preferences for each NHS Trust through the DrDoctor portal at nhs.my/nbt. 

We may also contact you by text message or email about unforeseen changes or cancellations to your appointment, or in the event of a major incident at the hospital.

If you’re registered with a GP in England, you can view your appointment information and receive notifications from the NHS App. 

You will need to download the NHS App, check your email address and phone number are correct and enable push notifications.  

There are some specialist clinics that do not appear in the NHS App. For these clinics, we will continue to contact you about your appointment in the usual way: 

• Burns Care 
• Transient Ischaemic Attack 
• Clinical Psychology 
• Fracture clinic for Trauma and Orthopaedics 
• Cardiac Rehab 
• Rheumatology RTC clinics 
• Care of the Elderly Rapid access clinics 
• Dietetics Coeliac group clinics 
• Midwifery diabetes clinics 

You may receive a text message or email inviting you to complete an online questionnaire about your care. Text messages will come from +44 7860 039 092. This number is genuine and not a scam. 

The message will contain a link to a secure webpage where you will be asked to answer some questions.  

The questionnaire may be short, asking you for a “yes”, “no” or “unsure” answer, or more detailed with multiple questions asking you to explain how you are managing your condition to inform your care. 

It will not affect your appointment or care if you’re unable to complete the online questionnaire. 

Our video consultation service allows you to have a video call with your healthcare professional as an alternative to a face-to-face appointment, where medically appropriate.

When you are invited to a video consultation, you will receive a text message or email with a direct link to your video appointment. You will receive this message 1-2 hours before your appointment time.

If you have any questions about your appointment, please call the number provided in your appointment letter.

If you are interested in having video consultations, please speak to the team involved in your care.

What to expect

• A video consultation runs in the same way as a face-to-face appointment but through your mobile device or computer.
• When you are invited to a video consultation, you will receive a letter with the date and time of your appointment. The letter will also ask you to confirm we have the correct UK based mobile number for you.
• You will receive a direct link to your video appointment by text message or email 1-2 hours before your appointment time.
• Please follow the link and log in to the portal 10 minutes before your appointment time to familiarise yourself with platform.
• Please be aware that clinics may still run late.
• When you follow the link to your video appointment, the button to 'Join the call' will be inactive until 1 hour before your appointment time. You will then be able to join the video consultation.
• All text messages will come from +44 7860 039 092. This number is genuine and not a scam.

To get the most from your video consultation, we ask you to:

• Ensure you have access to a laptop or desktop computer, smartphone, or tablet.
• The video consultation portal works in Chrome, Safari and Edge internet browsers. Please note the portal does not work in Internet Explorer.
• Find a quiet area of your home to have the video call.
• Have your questions ready, as you would do at a face-to-face appointment in hospital.
• Be available for up to 45 minutes after your appointment time in case the clinic is running late.​

DrDoctor is a secure communication platform used by North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) to communicate with our service users digitally, schedule appointments and provide important healthcare information.

You can check and update the mobile phone number and email address used to receive appointment information to through the NHS App, your GP or when you visit the hospital. 

Please do not update your contact details through the DrDoctor Portal as it will be overwritten with the information for the NHS digital information from the NHS App, your GP, and the hospital. You should also provide your updated details to the reception of the department you are visiting. 

DrDoctor adheres to strict privacy and security standards to protect your information and your data is only accessible to authorised healthcare professionals involved in your care.

Under UK law, you have the right to object to how your personal data is used for specific purposes. This means you can request your data not be used for certain reasons or activities.  

Please note you cannot object solely to the means or methods used to process your data, such as our preferred communication platform called DrDoctor and we are using the data to support your care.

If you choose to opt out of any of the reminders and notifications from DrDoctor, you will not receive any reminders from any service using DrDoctor. When your next appointment is arranged, you will automatically be opted in again as we are using this data to support your care. 
If you have previously used someone else's number on your healthcare record, they will receive communications regarding your care.

For more information on our privacy policy and data protection, please visit our Privacy Policy & Data Protection web page.

DrDoctor is a Digital Patient Engagement Platform and our chosen provider for the communication services outlined on this page. We use DrDoctor to help patients stay up to date with communications about their appointments and care using a secure online portal.

Find out more about DrDoctor

Text messages we send through DrDoctor will come from mobile phone number +44 7860 039 092.

This number is safe and secure and will send you text messages from North Bristol NHS Trust, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Sirona Care & Health and Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.