Friendly reminder (From Chard & Ilminster News)

Friendly reminder

9:46am Friday 31st August 2007 in Chard By Joanna Glover

PATIENTS will be getting a friendly reminder for their next appointment at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, thanks to a new confirmation service launched last week.

The service has been set up to stop appointments being missed after 20,355 outpatient appointments were missed last year at an avoidable cost of just over £2 million to the hospital.

The three month pilot of a telephone based Appointment Confirmation Service calls patients five days before their appointment to remind them of the details.

The calls are made to patients using personalised calling where appropriate, automated telephone calls or text messaging.