THE pilot scheme set up by Cardiff
The appointment confirmation service being trialled by the Health Board has helped to reduce no shows by almost 40% potentially saving millions.
Each year Cardiff
Matt Temby, the Health Board’s Patient Admin and Outpatients Directorate Manager, said early figures seemed to indicate the pilot was having an effect.
He said: “We believe the patient confirmation service has so far helped to reduce instances of DNA by up to 40% during the first three months.
“This is a very positive start and could be a huge efficiency saving for the Health Board when you consider that on average a missed appointment costs the NHS £50.
“Last year we had around 60,000 instances of DNS – or £3 million worth of wasted resource – so any reduction in that is going to be a positive thing for the UHB and for patients.”
Mr Temby said that the pilot still had another two months to run and that the results would be analysed against a control group to get an accurate picture of how effective the service had been. The feedback from patient’s involved in the pilot has been mostly positive.
Mr Temby said: “Patient’s are telling us that they are finding the service very useful and are grateful for the reminder.
“As part of the review pilot we are setting up a patient group to gather feedback on how it has been received and to look at whether it is a service that should be adopted and developed in other areas.”
