missing appointments

[Justaboutafloat]

The company I work for are looking at the issue of missed appointments at doctors surgeries and hospitals to see if there is a way that technology can be used to improve the number of people that don't turn up. The cost to the NHS is enormous.

I've done it myself in the past where I had a future appointment that I completely forgot to go to, or my FIL has so many different appointments that I have picked him up on the wrong day.

What kind of reminder would work for busy mums, older people, carers ? I'm not sure how useful email reminders are in this day and age. Text messages don't appear to work very well in trials. I often miss reminders on my laptop.

Any suggestions? :)

Maybe a stand alone app for all medical appointments that is reliable and allows you to set up a number of users - my gp surgery texts reminders of my appointments but not dd's as they won't put my mobile number on her records (she's under 2 so can't make appointments without me!)

Also that can be accessed by a number of providers - dentists, midwife, podiatrist etc

Thats a great idea. An easy way to cancel or reschedule too.
My bugbear has always been not being able to get through on the phone to cancel an appointment. Once my FIL was ill and it took me three calls to the hospital, with two unanswered calls, being diverted by the receptionist to two other extensions and finally ending up with an answer machine - I really wondered why I bothered.

I get a text message from the hospital. It works well.

I live outside the UK and for several years we have secure internet access to medical appointments and records etc. You can change appointments online and choose to get reminders via text or e-mail.

If you miss an appointment you get a bill for £20-40 (depending on what type of appointment it was)

I get a text message from the hospital and the dentist.

When I go in for day surgery, which is often, they ring me the night before to remind me.

Our dentist and optician use text messages, and I find those useful.

More so than e-mails - I don't check my e-mail every day, whereas I see text alerts as soon as a text gets to my phone, so i tend to see texts much sooner.

My old dentist used to do telephone reminders - e.g. receptionist would call to remind you or leave a reminder on voicemail - but that did seem like a very time consuming option.

Sorry meant to say, we can also book and cancel appointments online at the doctors.

Lunde
That sounds like a sensible sytem

Text reminders are the most useful for me.

Why don't GP surgeries charge people for missed appointments? I'm sure people wouldn't forget if they thought they'd have to pay up if they didn't turn up!