How Text Messages Will Save Hospitals Pounds 2m

By Jackie Bow; Abby Alford

Patients due to attend hospital appointments are to have reminders sent to their mobile phones.

It is hoped the innovative text message service – the first of its kind in Wales – will save the NHS millions of pounds every year in the cost of missed appointments.

Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust, which runs the Princess of Wales Hospital and Neath Port Talbot Hospital, has been trialling the system for the past six months and now plans to roll it out across most of its departments.

Julie Morse, Bro Morgannwg’s head of performance improvement, said: ‘There are many reasons patients do not honour their appointment – the most common being they simply forgot.’ Dnt mss yr hsptl appntmt: An innovative text message service that will remind patients about their appointments may save the NHS millions of pounds every year.

It is hoped the scheme, thought to be the first of its kind in Wales, will help to cut down the number of patients who miss their consultations, which costs taxpayers pounds 80 a time.

After a successful six-month trial, Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust, which runs the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot Hospital, is rolling out the appointment reminder project in most of its departments.

Patients who have given the Trust their telephone contact details, either land line or mobile, will be reminded of their outpatient appointment three days in advance. They will either receive a text message to their mobile or an automated voicemail.

Julie Morse, Bro Morgannwg’s head of performance improvement, said it is estimated each missed appointment costs the NHS pounds 80 as time will have been allocated for staff to deal with a patient.

She said the 28,000 people who miss their out-patients appointments at Bro Morgannwg’s hospitals every year waste around pounds 2m.

She said: ‘There are many reasons patients do not honour their appointment – the most common being they simply forgot. Thirty per cent state this as a reason.

‘Evidence from similar schemes in place in other parts of the UK suggests that reminding patients of a forthcoming appointment has helped to substantially reduce DNA (do not attend) rates.’

She said during the pilot, patients told staff the reminders were a big help.

‘It provides an opportunity for us to help patients and for them to help us by preventing wasted resources in terms of the valuable time of doctors, nurses and other staff.’

Trust chairman Win Griffiths said the scheme will help them make the best use of NHS resources.

Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust says it has already introduced measures which have cut down missed appointments. They now offer patients the choice of dates for their appointment. It is not yet known whether they will also roll out the text service.

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