3rd December 2009, Hemel Hempstead, UK – Telephonetics VIP, the speech automation specialist, has helped Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to improve their DNA rate. The Trust provides over one million appointments and operations each year and had experienced problems with patients that ‘Did Not Attend’ (DNA). DNAs are a serious problem across the NHS, costing an estimated £600m and increasing waiting times. At an average cost of £101 per appointment at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, the Trust considered a number of reminder solutions and chose Remind+ from Telephonetics VIP.
The Trust considered Remind+ to be more cost-effective than hosted reminder solutions. Paul Harriman, Assistant Director, Chief Operating Officer Directorate at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, commented: “Remind+ addressed our range of requirements to include group and individual reminders and was more cost-effective as it has lower revenue costs and is not paid for on a per reminder basis. This was a big advantage with the volume of reminders we planned.”
Dave Amps, Director of Customer Solutions Architecture at Telephonetics VIP, explains “Remind+ uses automated telephone calls in combination with other media such as SMS and email, to remind the patient to attend their appointment, just like an ordinary SMS or postal reminder. However, a critical advantage of Remind+ is the ability to gather information on the patient’s intention to attend, re-book or cancel the appointment. This enables the Trust to rebook appointment times which become available again and consequently helps to reduce waiting lists while improving DNA rates, as well as using hospital staff and resources more efficiently.”
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals trialled Remind+ with 12 departments before a full implementation. The reduced DNA rate generated by the trial equated to a projected £460,000 annual saving for the trial departments.
Since the rollout, Remind+ is being used by 60 departments to contact over 3000 patients each day. During a single six week campaign, the Trust used Remind+ to call 48,000 patients. 1,561 patients responded that they would not attend, allowing 1,561 appointment slots to be available for reallocation to other patients and saving over £157,000. This demonstrates that Remind+ is effective in reducing waiting lists as well as DNAs.
After five weeks of using Remind+, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals had identified such significant savings that they could see that the solution had already paid for itself. Paul Harriman says “This fantastic return on investment is underscored by the fact that the Trust owns the solution and we can go on to deploy as many reminder campaigns as we wish without further costs. Presently, we are working towards a 30% DNA reduction, which should save the Trust £1 million per year.”
For further information on Remind+ visit
www.telephoneticsVIP.co.uk/health or call 01442 242 242 and say “Remind+”.
