For too long, NHS organisations have managed patient engagement through a patchwork of disconnected systems - separate tools for appointment booking, consultation, follow-up, and patient communication, with data spread across multiple EPRs and administrative platforms that do not speak to each other. Clinicians waste time aggregating information from different sources. Patients receive inconsistent communication. And the opportunity to use data meaningfully - to improve services, reduce DNAs, and understand what patients actually need - goes largely unrealised.
In this HTN Now webinar, OX.DH CEO and founder John Kosobucki demonstrated how OX.Waiting Room, available on the NHS Microsoft national tenant, brings patients, clinicians, and data together in one connected, cloud-native platform. The session included a live walkthrough from both the clinician and patient perspective, case studies from NHS and international deployments, and a free trial offer for NHS organisations.
Webinar Summary
The NHS–Microsoft Foundation and Why It Matters
John opened by contextualising the scale of the NHS's existing investment in Microsoft infrastructure. By 2020, 1.3 million NHS users were onboarded to Teams and using email through the national Microsoft environment. In 2023, the NHS and Microsoft signed a further agreement - part of an £800 million five-year commitment - to expand on what is available within that centralised environment. "The NHS and Microsoft relationship provides a very powerful technology foundation," John noted, "that can be used for a lot more than email and Teams communications."
OX.DH's entire platform is built on top of this existing asset. Rather than requiring NHS organisations to procure and manage separate infrastructure, OX.Waiting Room operates within the Microsoft environment they already have, using familiar interfaces that clinical and administrative staff are already comfortable with. This dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of adoption - and eliminates the need for distinct hardware, separate user logins, or lengthy procurement cycles.
What OX.Waiting Room Does
OX.Waiting Room is a cloud-native patient engagement platform that manages the complete consultation workflow - virtual, face-to-face, and phone - from a single, unified interface. Key capabilities include:
- Configurable patient engagement workflows that automatically send appointment confirmations, reminders, follow-up messages, PROMs surveys, and custom communications via SMS and email
- Seamless EPR integration via HL7, FHIR, JSON, CSV, and other formats, enabling clinicians to view appointments from multiple systems in one place
- Patient verification at the point of joining a consultation - using personal identifiers such as date of birth or appointment ID - a clinical safety feature not natively available in standard Microsoft Teams
- One-to-one and group consultation support through the familiar Teams interface, with screen sharing, file attachment, and follow-up scheduling built in
- Real-time KPI dashboards tracking appointment start times, consultation volumes, DNA rates, and follow-up completion - without manual spreadsheet compilation
- Patient-initiated follow-up - allowing patients to book their own follow-up appointments based on published availability, reducing administrative overhead
- Single sign-on for clinicians via NHS.net AAD, and browser-based access for patients requiring no app download
The platform is pre-configured and designed to have NHS organisations live within hours. John demonstrated this at Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where the team was conducting test patient virtual consultations within one hour of setup.
Live Demonstration: Clinician and Patient Perspectives
John walked the webinar audience through a complete end-to-end workflow. From the clinician's view, upcoming appointments appear on the dashboard alongside patient contact options including SMS and phone. Clinicians can see all appointments across multiple EPR systems they are registered for in one consolidated view - eliminating the need to log into separate systems for different clinics or pathways.
Switching to the patient perspective, John demonstrated how an appointment confirmation SMS is received, followed by automated reminders in the run-up to the consultation, and a link to join the session at the scheduled time. On joining, the patient is prompted to verify their identity using personal details before being admitted to the consultation. The entire patient-facing journey requires no app download and works on any device through a browser.
During the consultation itself, clinicians have access to screen sharing, the ability to add MDT members, family, or translators to the session, and the ability to view patient history, send follow-up messages from templates, and view test results - all without leaving the platform. Looking ahead, John noted that Microsoft live translation capabilities will soon be integrated, enabling patients to choose their preferred language for dynamic transcription during consultations.
Case Studies: Barnsley Hospital and International Deployment
John shared two deployment examples that illustrate the breadth of OX.DH's reach. At Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, OX.DH's solution increased the volume of virtual outpatient appointments, with clinical staff describing the software as "intuitive and familiar" and reporting improved clinician experience and patient accessibility. OX.DH also launched in Italy with Groupo San Donato, a private healthcare group that now conducts all of its virtual consultations through OX.Waiting Room - demonstrating that the platform's Microsoft-based architecture translates effectively into international healthcare settings.
Free Trial for NHS Organisations
Any NHS organisation with an NHS.Net account can access a free one-month trial of OX.Waiting Room directly through the Microsoft national tenant App Source. The setup process involves creating a Teams channel, adding the OX.wr Lobby and Admin tabs, creating a test patient, scheduling a test appointment, and launching a trial consultation - a process that takes less than an hour and requires no external IT support.
Related Resources
- OX. Waiting Room: Product Overview
- Webinar: Virtual Consultation Best Practices and User Adoption
- Leveraging the NHS National Tenant for Virtual Consultations
- Case Study: Barnsley Hospital
Connect Your Patients, Clinicians and Data Today
Start your free one-month trial via the NHS Microsoft national tenant App Source, or book a guided demo to see OX.Waiting Room in action for your specific care setting. Get in touch with our team to find out more.
About the Author
John Kosobucki is CEO and Founder of OX.DH (Oxford Digital Health). He founded OX.DH with a mission to connect patients, clinicians, and data through cloud-native solutions built on the Microsoft ecosystem, working in close partnership with NHS England, NHS trusts, and international healthcare organisations. Learn more about OX.DH's founders.