1,000 patient reminders a day has instant impact on DNAs
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital sees how patient reminders can make an instant impact in reducing DNA rates.
Project highlights
- Implemented a cost-effective patient reminder solution
- DNA rate immediately dropped by 31%
- ROI achieved in two weeks
- Improved patient experience for 260,000 outpatients annually
Reducing DNA rates in NHS
Missed appointments are a concern to NHS Trusts across the country. DNAs (Did Not Attend) at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital were calculated to cost £93 per missed appointment. And there’s the knock-on effect that valuable appointment slots are left empty, which could be re-allocated.
Although Chelsea and Westminster’s average DNA rate was within prescribed tolerances, the Trust decided to confront the issue and actively work on reducing DNA rates in their NHS Trust.
Some patients had also complained that they were not made aware of an appointment. This was not an acceptable level of patient satisfaction for the Trust. This caused an avoidable financial cost. Things needed to improve.
Saving time, resources and money
The Trust looked at Remind+, a module of Liberty Converse, our omnichannel contact centre solution. It was the Trust’s chosen solution as it is cost effective and was also the best fit to integrate with the existing telephony infrastructure.
Remind+ can call several thousand contacts and record each patient’s response. So:
- Staff are freed to be more proactive and act upon the patient’s intention
- Valuable resources and time are saved
- And that means money is saved as well
Return on investment achieved in 2 weeks
The Physiotherapy department was selected for a pilot, which was a clear success. Remind+ was implemented, and then an additional 16 specialties. There are still more to follow.
Reminders are sent to around 1,000 Chelsea and Westminster patients every single day. It has had an instant impact on DNA rates which have dropped by 31%. This equates to 770 fewer DNAs.
Reducing DNA rates also means savings for the Trust. At the start this was £72,000 per month and they were able to prove return on investment in under 2 weeks. The savings increased and continue each month.
The plans are to roll out the system to all outpatient areas of Chelsea and Westminster and then extend it to admissions and other community services to make the same impact on reducing DNA rates in these NHS areas.
Learn more about Liberty Converse and Patient Hub.
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