Sms Alerts Reduce Missed Doctors Appointments by 27%

As a result of one of the first population-wide deployments of text messaging services, GP surgeries across Lewisham Primary Care Trust in London, UK have reduced missed appointments by 27% over the last year. The reduction has been attributed to surgeries using iPLATO Patient Care Messaging, a platform for text appointment reminders and other mobile patient services in UK Primary Care.

In order to receive the service, patients register their mobile phone number at their surgery in order to receive appointment reminders and health information direct to their mobile phones. From modest beginnings, the service now reaches 43% of the population covered by the participating GP surgeries. As a result, the mobile channel has now become the key electronic channel for patient interaction throughout the area. The service has proven to be hugely popular among patients as indicated by a 50% increase in PCT-wide text volumes over the last 12 month period.

Introduced to help reduce the high level of missed appointments and to create an effective channel of communication between patients, the PCT chose to subsidise the installation and the cost of text messages for the surgeries. Marie Searle, Practice Manager at Honor Oak Practice, an experienced user of the system said, "We have an ethnically and socially very diverse population in Lewisham. A vast majority of patients already use their mobile phone to run their daily lives and our experience of using this system from both the staff and patients" perspective has been very positive."

Posted to the site on 30th August 2007