Unlock ERF Funding With Preventative Care Referrals from ED
The Emergency Department isn’t the obvious home for preventative care. However, with EARL’s smart SMS tools, ED visits can now trigger fully automated preventative care referrals from ED—without adding burden to clinical teams.The challenge: enabling preventative care referrals from ED
The NHS “Make Every Contact Count” (MECC) principle encourages clinicians to use routine interactions for health promotion. Yet in Emergency Departments, where time and priorities are stretched, these opportunities are often lost. As a result, this not only limits patient outcomes—it also costs Trusts significant ERF (Elective Recovery Fund) income tied to preventative referral activity.EARL’s solution: automated preventative care referrals from ED
To address this, EARL provides a smarter, simpler workflow. When a patient arrives in ED, EARL sends a Trust-branded SMS or WhatsApp message, explaining triage and waiting times. At the same time, it collects structured health data—such as smoking status and alcohol use (via Audit-C). If a patient is eligible for referral, EARL immediately offers it. When accepted, the referral is submitted automatically—without waiting for a clinician. In this way, it works seamlessly in the background, ensuring no opportunity is missed.Case study: West Midlands DGH
To see the impact, a District General Hospital in the West Midlands piloted EARL’s self-referral tool over four months (Nov 2024–Feb 2025). During this period, the results were clear:- 9091 ED attendances per month
- 850 patients responded to SMS (9%)
- 130 were eligible for smoking cessation: 50 accepted (38%)
- 80 were eligible for alcohol support: 30 accepted (37%)
- £144,600/year in ERF funding came from smoking cessation referrals
- £92,880/year in ERF funding came from alcohol care referrals
- Total: £237,480/year at a 9% response rate
- Projected: £475,000+/year if response rate increases to 16%
Zero cost, zero burden
Importantly, EARL’s self-referral tool is implemented in under 60 days. There’s no additional cost, no technical burden, and no disruption to existing services. Moreover, it can run standalone or integrate with existing ED systems.Designed with clinicians, for clinicians
In addition to helping patients, EARL also supports receiving teams. As Alison Yates, Tobacco Dependency Lead, explains:“EARL’s SMS self-referral tool has significantly boosted referrals to our service, and their clinic tool streamlines the process of onwardly referring patients to Local Authority-funded smoking cessation services so efficiently that I can complete onward referrals in just 8 seconds!”Likewise, Jessica Bas, Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Alcohol Care Team, shared:
“EARL’s SMS self-referral tool has increased the number of referrals the alcohol care team receive and is allowing us to reach more patients, along with achieving additional ERF funding. EARL is very easy to use and has developed the service immensely.”