UK Mail wins two-year healthcare deal for hybrid mail service
British postal company UK Mail Group has won a two-year contract for its hybrid mail service, imail, with public healthcare agencies in southern England. The deal with the Hampshire Practitioner and Patient Services Agency comes with the option of a two-year extension, and means printing and mailing services being provided for four Primary Care Trusts, who work with more than 500 NHS partners in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
UK Mail is expecting the deal to amount to around 500,000 pieces of correspondence a year.
Hybrid mail – where mailers send their documents electronically, for letters to be printed and mailed locally to a recipient – will mean a more cost effective delivery service, according to Birmingham-based UK Mail.
UK Mail said it will be using the latest technology to produce, print, proof and post letters and insert screening leaflets and other forms of communication from the healthcare agencies.
On the imail service, letters can be sent electronically as late as 3pm for next-day delivery, and as late as 6pm for two-day delivery.
UK Mail has 53 sites around the country from which it can complete the physical side of its hybrid mail offering, which was first launched in 2008.
The company said it went through a “challenging” tender process to win the contract from the Government Procurement Services system. UK Mail was cleared last month to provide its imail service to National Health Service (NHS) trusts.
Andy Barber, general manager at imail, said the contract win showed that the hybrid mail service was already attracting interest from the public sector, along with the “thousands” of businesses and local authorities already using the service.
He said: “After undergoing a rigorous tender process we have proven our in-depth understanding of the requirements needed to provide services into the NHS.”
Craig Rodell, facilities manager for Hampshire & Isle of Wight PPSA, said awarding the mail contract to UK Mail was part of the PCTs’ commitment to providing high standards of information dissemination.
“In order to do this, it’s important that our health and wellbeing services are supported by efficient and cost effective processes. We are very pleased to be working with imail to deliver this,” he said.
