Last review date 03/02/2023

What is Hybrid Mail?

A hybrid mail service aims to reduce costs associated with printing, postage and administrators time. Whilst there are many other suppliers of Hybrid Mail, we have looked into two suppliers commonly used within Primary Care.

Both Webpost and Docmail provide similar services whereby a virtual print driver can be installed on the client machine. When a user sends a document to the print queue it is then verified locally to check that the address is correct and that the letter will fit in a C5 window envelope correctly. After this initial check is done, the documents can then be sent securely from the print queue to the supplier over an encrypted connection. The cost of the document to be posted is less than that of a 2nd class stamp including the costs associated with the paper, ink and envelope used at the suppliers end. Taking into account the hours of an administrators time spent in mailing out communications to patient these services can, when used correctly, save your practice time and money. 

To ensure these letters print correctly, we are in the process of adjusting all patient facing communication templates so that they fit the layout requirements of both Webpost and Docmail. Further information about the costs for these hybrid mail suppliers can be found on their websites.

When can I use this service?

We are currently in the process of updating our letter templates to match the layout requirements for a C5 envelope. We will be updating this page as we progress and hope to be able to give a time frame for when we are expecting to have completed these minor changes.

Disclaimer

Ardens is not in affiliation with either Docmail or Webpost. We advertise their services as we believe they can assist in time and cost savings within practices who are already on an Ardens' plan. We do not receive any profits for the advertising of these services nor do we compete either package against each other only compare the two for our end users.