Text reminders for outpatient appointments with Hywel Dda Health Board

Hywel Dda Health Board has introducing a text messaging reminder service to help tackle the problem of people not attending outpatient appointments.
The new mobile phone service is live now and will be available for outpatient appointments across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire.
Patients will be asked whether they wish to have the reminder when they book their next outpatient appointments.

If they agree, two text message reminders will be sent to the patient’s mobile number before their appointment.
Patients will be given the opportunity to request their reminder messages in either Welsh or English.

The detail within the message will include the time, date and venue of the appointment, and no sensitive information.
The text message will also provide a contact number for the patient to cancel the appointment should they so wish.

If the appointment is cancelled, the appointment slot will not be lost as it will be offered to another patient.
The aim is to encourage patients to attend their outpatient appointments and reduce the amount of missed appointments.
On average 24,000 appointments are lost per year – that’s six per cent of total activity – because patients failed to attend appointments arranged for them.
Each appointment slot missed not only costs the health service money in terms of the time medical staff lose, but more importantly, it means that the slot cannot be offered to another patient.
Medical Director Sue Fish said: “This service will hopefully ensure that precious appointments are not lost and that we make the best use of our clinicians’ time for the benefit of our patients. It will hopefully provide a really useful service to individual patients as well.”

Photo:

Dr Sue Fish pictured with her mobile as the health board launches a new text message service to remind patients of their outpatient appointments.