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Case study

Reducing DNAs with Patient Messaging

7.5 million people are currently on NHS waiting lists for consultant-led elective care in England.1  The herculean task of tackling this backlog has become a top priority for the NHS. Find out how Accurx is helping trusts save time and money while reducing DNA rates.

Patient Messaging at a glance...

Cut DNA rates in half

with Accurx SMS appointment reminders.

Save over 5 million hours

per year on patient communication for admin staff across the NHS.

Save £280,000

per trust each year by reducing postage.

Cut DNA rates in half with Accurx SMS patient messaging

Over 5.6% of patients still do not attend their outpatient consultations,2 adding unnecessary pressure on an already-strained workforce.

Recent research shows that sending simple SMS appointment reminders to outpatients can reduce DNA rates by 50%.3

Accurx's intuitive and secure platform gives patients the ability to respond directly to messages and arrange or rearrange appointments with ease. This has been seen to reduce our users’ DNA rates to “virtually zero”.

It was almost immediate: once we started Accurx Patient Messaging, our DNA rate dropped to virtually zero.
Suren, Paediatric Surgeon
Birmingham Children’s Hospital

Save admin staff across the NHS over 5 million hours making unnecessary phone calls

Accurx has contributed to my productivity - I can get much more done.
Hannah, Medical Secretary
Birmingham Women's and Children’s Hospital

The elective care backlog has also placed a huge strain on administrators stuck with ineffective and time-consuming communication systems.

Before using Accurx, Medical Secretary Hannah at Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital used to spend an hour per week confirming clinic appointments. With Accurx, this now takes her less than 7 minutes.

Save the average NHS Trust £280,000  per year on postage costs

Post as a means of communication cost the NHS £100 million in 2018.4

Switching to secure SMS messages with Accurx just for appointment confirmations would save the average NHS Trust £280,000  per year on postage.5

Accurx is already saving GP practices over £25.5 million every year on postage.6

Simple to arrange, re-arrange and attend appointments

Cheryl, a psychiatric nurse at Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust told us her patients love how easy it is to rearrange an appointment that they cannot attend.

Elizabeth, a physiotherapist at Kent Community NHS Foundation Trust, told us that her patients prefer Accurx to AttendAnywhere because they find it easier to use.

Accurx makes it easier for clinicians and admin teams to get in touch with patients. Instead of spending hours on the phone trying to contact patients and vice versa, they can respond instantly or at a more convenient time.

It’s the immediacy of it. It’s the fact that you can respond directly to the text. That’s why it makes such a difference to people. [...] It’s improved patient engagement. That’s the big thing for me.
Suren, Paediatric Surgeon
Birmingham Children’s Hospital
Supporting NHS targets
"All clinical communications to patients should enable clear, shared decision-making and mechanisms for the patient to provide a response."
- NHS Good communications with patients waiting for care: core principles

Working to meet wider NHS priorities

The NHS is striving to give patients more flexibility and choice over their care. Innovative digital solutions form a large part of this aim.

Supporting NHS targets
"An important part of the digital possibilities for elective care is giving patients better access to the information about their care and the ability to communicate more easily with their clinicians."
- Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care

Sources