Mayo University Hospital’s New Text Message Reminder Service

Mayo University Hospital (MUH) has introduced a text message reminder service for patients who have appointments in the Outpatient and Ambulatory Gynaecology Departments in the hospital. MUH runs approximately 60,000 outpatient appointments per year and 17% of patients do not attend. This initiative is designed to improve communications with patients and improve the quality of the outpatient service in the hospital.  

Kate Plavenieks, Hospital Business Manager led the development of this service in MUH. “The text message initiative is part of a plan to improve the outpatient experience in the hospital. We are aiming to make it as easy as possible for people to use our hospital services but the text reminders will also have a positive impact on waiting lists. When patients do not turn up to their appointments it is a lost opportunity to offer the appointment to someone else on the waiting list.

“We conducted an outpatient survey during the summer and some of our patients told us that when they receive an appointment letter it can be a number of weeks before the actual appointment and the date is easily forgotten. In response to this feedback, we implemented the text reminder service across the Outpatient Department and Ambulatory Gynaecology Department. Patient feedback has been extremely positive since we went live with one patient stating ‘it was really helpful to get a text, I have so many appointments that I would definitely have forgotten to attend some of them’.”

Catherine Donohoe, Hospital Manager commented, “This new service in MUH is already having a really positive impact on the Outpatient and Ambulatory Gynaecology Departments. It is helping our patients and it is helping our teams to maximise every appointment opportunity. I want to thank the staff involved in progressing this project as we work on developing further improvements to the outpatient experience in the hospital.”

The text message is sent 7 days ahead of the appointment and patients are then prompted to contact the hospital if they are unable to attend. The hospital will then reschedule their appointment and offer the slot to another patient.