Print Page

SMS messaging can help NHS to go ‘green’

With Earth Day on the 21^st of April, the increasing adoption of iPLATO’s text messaging system, Patient Care Messaging, by NHS organisations across the UK for health promotion initiatives and GP appointment reminders is proving to be a great way of creating a ‘greener’ NHS.

By implementing the iPLATO system, many NHS healthcare provider organisations have been able to provide an alternative communication ‘channel’ to paper and mail services.

Users of the iPLATO system are achieving a significant decrease in the use of paper and mail services (a key contributor of CO2 emissions in the NHS), as a result of using the ‘two-way’ SMS system for a proportion of their healthcare provider/patient communication.

Compared to paper and mail services, the use of text messaging is a significantly ‘greener’ option. The NHS is responsible for 3.2% of all carbon emissions and 25% of Public Sector emissions in England.

The NHS could significantly reduce their ‘primary and secondary footprint’ (a measure of the direct and indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products that the NHS uses) by the wide adoption of SMS messaging technology to reduce the amount of paper and mail services used.

This approach could also have a major role to play when taking into account the challenge that the NHS faces in achieving the Government’s aim to cut carbon emissions in the NHS by 10% by 2015 and by 80% by 2050.

In addition to reducing the amount of paper and mail services used, text messaging can also reduce NHS costs considerably. When compared to sending a letter or calling a patient via a landline telephone (both activities requiring considerable time, cost and effort) for health promotion initiatives such as Smoking Cessation, the instantaneous and cheap nature of sending a text message is an excellent alternative.

Recent studies have also shown that the use of the iPLATO system for SMS supported health promotion has also delivered much higher patient response rates than traditionally achievable via existing methods of healthcare provider/patient communication (letters, landline telephone call etc.).

For all these reasons, text messaging can make a significant contribution to CO2 emission reduction and all round efficiency within the NHS.

- ENDS-

About iPLATO

iPLATO is a privately owned limited company founded in London in the autumn of 1999. In 2003, iPLATO was awarded a SMART Feasibility Grant by the Department of Trade & Industry to study the feasibility for national implementation of a system to remind outpatients about scheduled appointments using text messaging technology.

Since completing the study, the company has invested substantial resources towards overcoming the barriers to entry of the healthcare market and now provides successful healthcare solutions to NHS organisations throughout the United Kingdom - building a promising business around its flagship service ‘Patient Care Messaging’.

The European Venture Contest, organised by the European Commission, recognised iPLATO as one of the top ten early stage technology ventures ready to “reshape their industry and to conquer the global market” and featured on the Red Herring Europe Top 200 of companies to watch in 2006. iPLATO experienced extensive (PCT funded) roll out of Patient Care Messaging (for GP surgeries) across 20 Primary Care Trusts in 2008/2009.

iPLATO Press Contact:

Julia Hanley

iPLATO Healthcare

Tel: 020 3178 4676

Email: julia.hanley@iplato.net