Patients Could Get Text Reminders

By HUNT, Tom

Text-messaging is just one of the options being considered to combat a waste of hospital resources as patients fail to meet appointment times.

Getting patients to telephone and confirm appointments, phoned reminder calls and increased public awareness were other options put to a Nelson Marlborough District Health Board hospital advisory committee meeting this week.

A range of factors, including lack of transport, trouble getting time off work and appointment cards going to the wrong address, have been blamed for non-attendance.

Committee chairman John Inder described the no-shows – nearly one in 10 outpatients at times – as “an enormous waste of resources”.

In a report to the committee, chief operating officer Keith Rusholme said the problem meant available clinic space was not being used, staff time was being wasted and, to beat the problem, clinics were double-booking but sometimes ending up over-booked.

In 2002, which is the last date that figures were readily available for the health board, 3000 patients – or 7 percent – did not turn up to appointments and the board estimated then that the non-attendance cost about $90,000 in wasted specialist time.

A trial in the Nelson Hospital ear, nose and throat department over the past five months showed that people failing to attend first appointments varied between 5.15 and 9.43 percent each month.

The health board wants to get the figure consistently below 6 percent.

In May the department trialled getting patients to phone in and confirm appointments. The no-shows dropped to 3.18 percent.

Mr Rusholme said it was too early to say if the drop was due to the phone calls or normal fluctuations.

Further trials, where hospital staff called to remind patients of their appointments, were planned.

Board chief executive John Peters said the cost of implementing a system would be insignificant compared with the cost of patients not showing up.

(c) 2007 Nelson Mail, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.