Working in a different way has resulted in the Children’s Hearing Service at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT) being able to quickly fill appointments which parents and carers cancel at the last minute.
The team was phoning families on the waiting list to see if they could fill a short notice cancellation slot, but calls would often go unanswered and were not returned.
So instead they have been using text messaging, which has resulted in more appointments being used, along with reduced admin time.
The team trialled text messaging over 17 days, to fill 22 appointments and were successful with booking families into 16 appointment slots.
They are now looking to extend the use of text messaging further to:
- Continue to fill short notice slots
- Help book families into virtual support groups
- Send reminders to reduce the number of missed appointments
- Send appointment confirmation if it has been organised verbally over the phone
- Confirm waiting list acceptance
- Send generic information to groups of parents
- Send links for pre-appointment questionnaires for new referrals and hearing aid patients.
For each available appointment, a text went out to a group of six to 10 families on the waiting list, who were suitable for the appointment type, informing them an appointment had become available, on a first come, first served basis. It asked families to phone the admin team to confirm. Once a slot had been taken, another text message would be sent to the group, letting people no it was no longer available.
Business Manager in the Children’s Hearing Service, Julie Clarke, said: “. I am really surprised at the enthusiasm of my idea. To me, it was just a simple thing that helped admin not to spend so much time on the phone trying to get hold of parents. The other issue was that not many parents respond to an unknown number. This way, it was instant and they could decide there and then if they wanted to take us up on the empty slot.”
Find out more about our Children’s Hearing Service
Below, see Julie Clarke’s flash of brilliance:
