Envoy Health Messenger - Primary Care

 

DERBY HOSPITALS NHS TRUST & PATIENTXT MESSAGING SERVICE REDUCES DNA RATES BY OVER 22%

Client:

Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides the full range of general hospital specialities on an outpatient, day or inpatient basis. It has 1187 beds including maternity, neonatal and intensive care beds and employs more than 8,000 staff. It aims for the Southern Derbyshire community. It provides approximately 600,000 outpatient appointments a year.

 

Challenge:

To improve the quality of service for patients and to improve its DNA (Do Not Attends) rate. Within the Diabetes Clinic the DNA rate prior to the project was on average 23% and although considerably lower than the national average, it was still considered to be a drain on the Trust’s resources, both human and monetary. The major problem with any Out-Patient scenario is the length of time between a patient booking an appointment and the appointment itself and as such, the major reason given for patients missing their appointment is that they forgot.  A DNA not only wastes resources but exacerbates the problem of increasing waiting lists.

 

Solution:

Following ongoing discussions the Trust decided to implement a text message evaluation trail on. Various suppliers were considered with Healthcare Communications chosen because of the Patientxt Product features and their market knowledge. The long term objective was to implement a fully automated text reminder system throughout the Trust if the trial proved successful.

 

Results:

Diabetes Clinic

Pre appointment reminder DNA numbers 550

With appointment reminder DNA numbers 202

 

Combined DNA rates of the mobile population fell by 22% with mobile penetration increased to 45%.

 

The appointment reminder system reduced DNA rates quickly, dramatically and efficiently, and was integrated in to a further 2 departments during the 5 month trial.

 

Conclusion

The initial implementation of the text messaging service proved very successful in reducing DNA rates across Diabetes, Hepatology and Rheumatology clinics. The technology and system are well proven, in order to achieve great results there is a continued focus called for from the Trust and Healthcare Communications. The Trust has just had a successful upgrade to the original system and are making maximum use of the NHS Mail system. Healthcare Communications are looking forward to working with the Trust to complete the implementation throughout the Trust within the forthcoming weeks.

Trust feedback:

“This represents a considerable saving in terms of reducing DNA rates, patient cancellations and replacing letter reminders with text message reminders. There was an immediate impact on our DNA rates during the pilot. The project has been extremely successful. Healthcare Communications delivers its services courteously and responsively through its well informed staff who take an obvious pride in what they do and in the service they provide. We have always been extremely happy with the excellent support provided by Healthcare Communications, both technical and customer service.

 

She added “We have recently upgraded our SMS system to Healthcares’ V3 appointment reminder system which provides Trust wide management information and the option of duel pathways, sending message via NHS Mail or 02, – again the support has been invaluable and we look forward to rolling the system out to the majority of our clinics during summer 2009.”  Any issues or queries have been dealt with in a consistently prompt and efficient manner.”

 

Annabel Shaw, Project Manager,

Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

 

 

Healthcare Feedback: 

“This 5 month trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of the system on DNA rates on various departments, with a view to commissioning a Trust wide solution. We quickly set up the system with the help of the IT team and delivered instant DNA reductions in Diabetes. This early success provided crucial momentum for the project with another two department's hepatology and Rheumatology joining. The combined DNA rate of patients with mobiles receiving an appointment reminder fell by 22%. The Trust reviewed the project and issued a tender for the Trust wide service that included an NHSmail sending requirement. This request illustrates HC's willingness to adapt our product to client needs, the original product did not have this feature.

 

We added this specification to Patientxt V3 and were successfully selected from the tender process.”

 

Mike Cunningham Director

Healthcare Communications UK

 

Contact:

Healthcare Communications UK Ltd

Stratum Hilton House

Chester Street

Stockport

SK1 OAS

0161 429 4151 mcunningham@healthcomm.co.uk