12 March 2010
A new texting service has been launched by the Trust to help make sure people attend their hospital appointments. The move comes after missed appointments cost the Trust more than £3 million last year.
The new service sends a text to patients a week before their appointment, reminding them that it is due to take place.
Sue Jones is the Trust's Director of Service Improvement and has led the development of the new scheme. She said: "As a Trust, we see approximately 700,000 patients a year and ask that people who can't make their appointments get in touch and let us know beforehand.
"Missed appointments are disruptive to our services and very costly. It's also inconvenient for patients who do turn up, as they could have been seen in an earlier time slot.
"This new service will make it much easier for patients to get in touch with us and let us know ahead of time if they can no longer keep their appointment. By letting us know, we can see other patients more quickly and can reduce our costs dramatically - each missed appointment costs the Trust approximately £126."
The new service follows the launch in December of the outpatient appointments centre - a centralised place where patients can make, cancel or amend outpatient appointments at the Trust. Patients can contact the centre by:
Patients who want to join up to the texting service can do so on the Trust's website or by calling the appointments centre on 020 8296 2968.
