Leeds Teaching Hospitals is one of the largest UK Trusts with over 1.3 million appointments made annually.

In 2013/14, nearly 130,000 patients did not attend appointments, translating to £7 million of missed income!

The problem

Approximately 50% of patients miss appointments simply because they forget and Leeds did not have a formal patient reminder system in place. This created several problems:

  • The Trust DNA rate was 12.2%, 4% higher than peer average
  • Missed income and wasted appointments within clinics
  • Increased admin resource with rebooking of missed appointments

The Turnaround Strategy

Healthcare Communications worked with Leeds to introduce SMS and IVM appointment reminders. The system uses the most cost efficient contact mode first and automatically switches to IVM if the message is not received or land line only patient details are held.
Within a year….

  • DNA’s are now 7.2%; 0.8% below peer average!
  • Attendance is over 91%, with 23,000 more patients attending in comparison to last year
  • £1.5 million efficiencies generated in 2015/16
  • Outpatients project team won the 2015 ‘Time to Shine’ Trust award for results achieved
  • Patients can easily reply electronically with Cancel/ Rebook and answers are reported to the trust in real time. Slots can then be reused to reduce waiting times

Read the full case study for more great ideas on improving financial efficiency!

If you would like to find out more about communication options or how other trusts are reducing DNA’s, phone 0845 9000 890 or email for a hassle free chat!