May 25, 2005
Success of hospital text reminders
Texting hospital patients to remind them about their appointments has proved a success, according to the company behind the new system, reports the The Daily Mail.
"Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow, which piloted the project last year, is now sending out more than 2,000 reminders by text each month.
Fife-based firm Advanced Messaging Ltd said the system is emerging as "one of the key weapons in the battle to reduce missed appointments.
According to the firm, about 11 per cent of outpatients fail to turn up for hospital appointments, costing the NHS an estimated £300million a year".
Related articles:
-- Hospitals embrace SMS technology- Text messaging is increasingly being used by UK hospitals to remind patients about outpatient appointments -- and could potentially save the National Health Service millions of pounds every year.
-- Concern over health appointment reminders by SMS - More and more hospitals in the UK are sending text messages to patients to remind them of appointments, and though this policy has been hailed as a success, one public health doctor in London is waving a red flag, claiming such a policy will leave poorer people out in the cold.
-- Hospital Appointments by SMS - Haukeland University Hospital is to use text messaging to schedule appointments with patients in an attempt to increase efficiency and save approximately six million NOK each year. The project is the first of it's kind in Norway.
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