Exploring Patient and Carer Perspectives on Appointment Reminders in Healthcare Settings
What did we do?
We have carried out a study to learn how patients and carers feel about hospital appointment reminders, and their thoughts on how they can be improved. These reminders can be sent by text message, phone call, letter, or email.
This study is part of a bigger project to reduce missed hospital appointments, sometimes called “Did Not Attends” or DNAs. We want to make sure reminder systems are simple, fair, and helpful for everyone.
We tried to talk to people who may find it hard to get to appointments. This could include people who do not have much internet access, people whose first language is not English, or people who care for someone else.
Why was it important?
Missed appointments are a big problem for the NHS. They can slow down care, harm people’s health, and cost the NHS a lot of money. Reminders can help reduce missed appointments, but we do not fully understand how people see these reminders or why some people still do not attend their appointments.
Most research has looked at whether reminders work, not at how people feel about them. Because of this, some reminder systems may not work well for everyone. By hearing from patients and carers, we can find out what helps people get to their appointments and what makes it harder. We can also find out how reminder systems can be made better for everyone.
How did we do it?
We have spoken to 25 adults who have had at least one hospital appointment reminder in the past six months. This includes people who went to their appointment, people who missed it, and carers who get reminders for someone else. We heard from people from many different backgrounds including older adults, people from ethnic minority communities, and people with limited familiarity with technologies .
In the interviews, we asked about people’s experiences with different types of reminders, any problems they had, and how the reminders made them feel. We also asked for their ideas on how to make reminder systems better.
To make sure our research is meaningful, we worked with the ARC-GM Public and Community Involvement and Engagement (PCIE) panel. The panel helped us design the study.
Findings
In progress. This study will help us find out what works well, and what does not, for hospital appointment reminders. By listening to patients and carers, especially people who have trouble using the internet, we hope to find ways to make reminders easier to use and more helpful for everyone. What we learn can help the Trust reduce missed appointments.
Who did we work with?
More information
Programme Manager
Dr Ross Atkinson