Hospital text tweak targets appointment no-shows

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust made changes to the timing of texts

An AI system changing when patients receive reminder texts has helped to "significantly reduce" the number of missed appointments at Coventry's University Hospital, its trust says.

Switching texts from four to 14 days before an appointment, the trust was able to cut the number who did not attend or cancelled late on, and then reallocate slots "to 700 other patients".

The trust did it using "process mining techniques and IBM’s Watsonx AI platform".

Results were presented at Think London, an annual IBM event.

More than 900 people attended and shared, debated and learned about challenges of technological innovation and the impact of AI on business.

Prof Andy Hardy, chief executive at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said that last year "we had about 100,000 DNAs ('did not attends') - appointment slots that were not filled because patients didn't turn up or cancelled at the last minute".

He added the trust now texted 14 days before appointments "because, by then, people have either forgotten or they know whether it would affect their work or they can't get family cover, so they cancel then".

"That gives us time to rebook in," he said.