title: Time to use text reminders in genitourinary medicine clinics.
abstract: Faced with a national 48-hour waiting time target and high non-attendance rates for booked appointments, our sexual health service sought patient preferences for appointment reminders. Questionnaires were distributed to 350 consecutive genitourinary medicine clinic attendees. Eighty-eight percent of respondents approved of appointment reminders, with text messaging being the preferred option. Automated voicemail reminders to mobile phones were acceptable to 84%. Patients would generally choose a voicemail reminder to their mobile phone as opposed to home or work phone, and this preference was more pronounced in younger patients (P = 0.03). The majority of patients considered reminders two or three days in advance sufficient notice, with 98% owning a mobile phone. Text or voicemail reminders may significantly reduce non-attendance rates and their associated costs, improve accessibility and reduce waiting times.
authors.affiliation: HIV/GUM Directorate, St Stephen's Centre, Chelsea & Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Coyne
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mandalia
authors.forename: A-M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Waters
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017010:Reminder Systems; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013685:Telecommunications; D013997:Time Factors; D006113:United Kingdom; D014850:Waiting Lists