%0 Journal Article
%T Short message service cancellation intervention to reduce integrated sexual health and HIV ¡®did not attend¡¯ appointment rates
%A Andrew Tomkins
%A Emile Morgan
%A Sam Naylor
%J International Journal of STD & AIDS
%@ 1758-1052
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0956462418804656
%X Did not attend (DNA) appointments create a significant impact upon resource and finance efficiency in the NHS. Despite introduction of short-message service (SMS) reminders to our patients, DNA rates remained persistently high. An option to send an SMS to cancel a booked appointment was piloted from 15 January to 16 April 2018 for integrated sexual health and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) appointments. Absolute monthly mean DNA rates as a proportion of total bookable appointments fell by 2.24% (14.42% pre-intervention [95% CI: 13.15¨C15.79%] to 12.18% post-intervention [95% CI: 10.98¨C13.50%]). Cancellation rates increased proportionally by 14.28% from 24.4% to 38.68% (786/3224 pre-intervention [95% CI: 22.70%¨C26.15%] to 1184/3061 post-intervention [95% CI: 36.52¨C40.93%]). Findings suggest that SMS cancellations are a viable solution to reduce DNA rates in this setting
%K Equipment
%K screening
%K human immunodeficiency virus
%K diagnosis
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956462418804656