Figures released by the Developing Patient Partnerships (DPP) today have indicated that an estimated 16 million GP appointments are missed every year in the UK. With research suggesting that the average cost of a missed appointment within general practice estimated at £18; this represents a collective loss of nearly £300 million to the NHS each year.

iPLATO has developed a text messaging solution specifically for the Health Care Service, which works by sending patients a text message reminder direct to their mobile phones. The solution, called Patient Care Messaging, has proven to reduce the DNA (did not attend) rate of GP surgeries by between 26% and 50 %.

The system which fully integrates to a GP’s booking system has been commercially available for the last two years and is currently being used in sites within twelve Primary Care Trusts. Despite the proven success in reducing the number of missed appointments, Patient Care Messaging has yet to be recognised centrally by the NHS as a cost effective and scalable solution to this growing problem. iPLATO is committed to improving Health Care through technology and innovation.

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Barts and The London NHS Trust and iPLATO hosted a knowledge sharing event on Monday the 10th of July 2006. The event brought together representatives from 13 Trusts from across London who came to listen to and discuss the initial findings from an iPLATO Patient Care Messaging pilot running at the acute trust since April 2006.

Yasmin Anwar, Service Improvement Manager at Dental and Patient Services, said “Our Patient Text Message Appointment Reminder Pilot has been running since early April, covering two specialties with typically high DNA rates (20% and 23% respectively). Our latest figures show that, of the patients who have received text message reminders, only 2.7% went on to miss their appointments, which is a dramatic improvement.”

In an informal event setting, speakers from Barts and The London elaborated on pilot findings and answered questions from attendees. Allaying many of the concerns regarding information governance was Mike Eagles, Head of Software Development at Barts and The London. Eagles mentioned that confidentiality was paramount when handling patient information and this was maintained by encrypting transmitted data, regulating text message content and gaining patient consent. “After the initial installation and integration of iPlato with our own system, there was nothing more we needed to do for it to work successfully. The messaging works in the background” commented Eagles on the fully automated and non-intrusive nature of Patient Care Messaging on PAS.

Tobias Alpsten, Managing Director of iPLATO who moderated the session said “The results of the pilot at an established trust like Barts and The London serves as an endorsement to iPLATO Patient Care Messaging. It also endorses our collaborative approach in bringing these solutions to our NHS partners. In the end, this solution is not about sending text messages as much as it is about improving healthcare through increased access, reduced waiting times and improved patient service. We are thankful that Barts and The London has given us a platform to prove that the technology and our unique approach deliver the intended benefits”.

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Notes for Editors:

About Barts and The London NHS Trust

Barts and The London NHS Trust is one of Britain’s top teaching hospital trusts. Over 500,000 people from the City, East London and further afield are treated every year. The Trust is made up of three hospitals - Barts in the City, The Royal London in Whitechapel and The London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green. These hospitals have a long tradition of pioneering new treatments. The history of modern medicine can be traced through the many eminent physicians and surgeons amongst their alumni - from William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood to names such as Langdon-Down (Down’s Syndrome) and Barnardo (child welfare). This tradition of clinical excellence continues today with Britain’s best record on mortality - 23% below what would be expected.

Lewisham Primary Care Trust has launched iPLATO Patient Care Messaging at GP surgeries throughout Lewisham. Patients at Morden Hill Surgery, Vesta Road Surgery, Muirkirk Road Surgery, Wells Park Practice, Brockley Road Surgery, Rushey Green Group Practice and the Kingfisher Surgery will receive appointment reminders and health information directly to their mobile phones. These practices became involved in this new service because they have higher levels of patients who do not attend appointments.

To access the service, which is free of charge, the patients will have to register their mobile phone number at their surgery. This will be the largest deployment of iPLATO Patient Care Messaging to date in the United Kingdom. Leaflets with further information are available at all those GP practices involved.

The Imperial College of London recently estimated that missed appointments (”Did-not-attends”) cost the NHS approximately £789 million per year. This study also suggested that the NHS could save £240 - £370 million per year by launching text appointment reminders throughout England.

“Mobile patient services are the way forward in Lewisham”, said Simon Gosney, Minor Illness Service Improvement Facilitator at Lewisham PCT. “We have an ethnically and socially very diverse population. A vast majority already uses the mobile to run their daily lives. I believe that text messaging to remind them about their appointments is a perfect first step towards building a ‘mobile relationship’ with them. In the next 12 months we aim to reduce missed appointments by 25% from where we are today and get as many patients as possible onto the system as quickly as possible.”

Lewisham Primary Care Trust chose iPLATO for its long experience in UK primary care. Patient Care Messaging is functional and secure. It improves service without adding extra work for healthcare staff and integrates seamlessly with existing systems used by GPs to book appointments and clinics. In addition to appointment reminders, GPs will use Patient Care Messaging to create and manage text campaigns to remind patients about flu-jabs and childhood immunisations, which are an important issue in Lewisham. The service is operational in ten other Primary Care Trusts where it has dramatically increased operational efficiency and the quality of care.

“Lewisham Primary Care Trust has proved to be innovative and forward-thinking by introducing Patient Care Messaging,” said Tobias Alpsten, Managing Director of iPLATO. “It is a borough that faces many challenges and we support the PCT not only with our technology but, more importantly, with our unparalleled experience in delivering radical improvements to cost efficiency and quality of care.”

Lewisham Primary Care Trust will be reviewing the effectiveness of the Text Messaging Service in March 2007, before recommending it to other GP practices in Lewisham.

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Notes for Editors:

About Lewisham Primary Care Trust

Lewisham Primary Care Trust is responsible for community and primary care services in Lewisham. It is also responsible for commissioning local hospital and mental health services.

Press contact: Kelly Scanlon, Head of Communications ,
[1] Kelly.scanlon@lewishampct.nhs.uk,
020 7206 3334

Picture available: Phone with appointment reminder on display.

iPLATO, the leader in mobile healthcare applications, announced today that City & Hackney Teaching Primary Care Trust has launched Patient Care Messaging for patients attending its Screening Service. iPLATO Patient Care Messaging will help to improve the service to patients in the long term: Care will delivered more efficiently and therefore be of better quality and less expensive. iPLATO Patient Care Messaging will be available to subscribing patients free of charge from March 1st onwards for City & Hackney tPCT’s Locomotor Service.

Locomotor is a specialist muscular-skeletal service that provides an alternative to potentially lengthy hospital waits. Appointment reminder messages will only be sent to patients opting into the service. City & Hackney tPCT hopes for a rapid growth of the subscriber base as it should keep the Did-Not-Attend (DNA) Rate low to provide patients with optimal access to the Screening Service.

“Mobile patient services is really the way forward” says Sham Rahim, Project Manager for Booking & Choice at the Teaching PCT. “We believe that text messaging to remind patients about their appointments is a perfect first step towards building a ‘mobile relationship’ with them. We aim to reduce missed appointments by xx% from where we are today. We wish to get as many patients as possible onto the system as quickly as possible. To achieve this we will actively call our patients to gain their consent and distribute patient information leaflets to all GP surgeries in City & Hackney. Patients are encouraged to let both their referring GP and the Screened Services team know that they wish to receive reminders.”

“City & Hackney Teaching Primary Care Trust once more proved to be innovative and forward-thinking,” says Tobias Alpsten, Managing Director of iPLATO. “The care provided by the Screened Services Team is similar to secondary care as it is based on referrals from GPs. This makes effective mobile patients services especially challenging because of the on/off relationship between the patient and the healthcare provider. We will support the City & Hackney Teaching Primary Care Trust with our technology but, more importantly, with our unparalleled experience in delivering radical improvements to cost efficiency and quality of care.

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