To wonder whether this would be something that could get me in trouble?

[RainbowBriteUk]

I work in a patient-facing role but not NHS. All my colleagues are on holiday at the moment until after new year.

I want to phone a patient to ask if them if they're able to attend their appointment (they usually don't turn up) which is first thing when I return to work. If they don't attend it means I can work from home that day which will be much easier for me and better for the few other colleagues in the office in regards to Covid. Could me making this phone call while i'm off land me in trouble?

I guess it would depend on the policies in place at your work. Do you have an email address for the patient? You could send an email along the lines of “this is a reminder of your appointment on x day at x time. Please let us know if you are unable to attend” as you could always say you had scheduled it to be sent today while you were still at work last week.