SMS Patient Reminder Messages Reduce Missed Appointments By 30%

Published 15th May 2006

NHS, Pharmaceutical and Private Healthcare Organisations benefit from new corporate SMS text service...

LONDON, UK, 15th MAY 2006
TMC Ltd. a leading provider of global corporate communications today announced the global launch of The Messaging Centre (TMC) (www.tmcsms.com) - a powerful, web-based SMS (Short Message Service) platform designed to enhance business communications and continuity within Government healthcare departments, private GP Practices, dental surgeries and hospitals or anyone with a company or personal mobile phone.

The Messaging Centre (TMC) has been designed specifically to benefit industries such as healthcare and pharmaceutical industries by providing a corporate text messaging service that can dramatically improve business operations, communications and provide enhanced aftercare for Outpatients. Existing research highlights the fact that 15 million medical appointments are missed each year costing the government and private healthcare industry millions in lost annual revenue. (Source Research & Markets, www.researchandmarkets.com)

Recent studies from the Research and Markets Report has highlighted that fact that more and more healthcare organisations are embracing SMS text messaging in order to enhance business operations, reduce the number of missed medical appointments and ultimately increase patient care. The report has indicated that Outpatient clinics, that are using SMS based appointment reminder systems, are seeing a reduction in missed appointments or 'Did Not Attend' (DNAs). Furthermore, it reveals that Outpatient clinics that deployed SMS patient reminder systems saw DNA rates fall by up to 30% even though less than 20% of patients chose to use the service.
Peter Tanner, Managing Director and Founder of TMC Ltd. commented: "SMS bulk messaging technology, as provided by The Messaging Centre, can provide critical support to sectors such as mental healthcare where Outpatient clinics and social services are under political pressure to ensure that patients keep appointments and comply with medication regimes. Text message based reminder systems are particularly useful for this sector because the demographic profiles of persistent DNAs and mobile phone users are very similar."

Alison Steadward, Practice Manager for Your Teeth Dental Surgery, who has deployed The Messaging Centre to support her business added: "We are finding patients are less likely to miss appointments now we have implemented SMS technology from TMC. Since deploying The Messaging Centre we have saved a significant amount of time and revenue through streamlined operations. Patients are impressed with this method of communication as it far more personal than printed correspondence and the employees prefer to receive updates or information directly into their hands."
Sue Smith, Chief Executive of the Princess Grace Hospital (HCA International Group) and existing client of TMC commented: "Communication is so vital between management staff in the daily operational management of a hospital and we are finding the ease of the TMC system a valuable tool in ensuring rapid response to our management challenges".
These powerful two-way SMS messages can be sent directly from many different platforms such as PC's (Personal Computer), wireless PDA's (Personal Digital Assistant), company or personal GSM's (Global Systems for Mobile communications).

Many businesses across the EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa) have already harnessed the power of browser-based SMS texting. Here are just a few examples:

Reed Executive sends 120,000 SMS messages per month to job seekers all over Europe
Royal & Sun Alliance has integrated text messaging with it's call centre to support new electronic insurance services
McDonalds experienced a 29% response rate on an SMS monthly game
ITV and Channel 4 ran major SMS services to accompany their Survivor and Big Brother programmes
Emergency services alert their response vehicles and notify essential information

Email Alert: Many organisations use SMS to notify users when mail from specific senders arrives in their inbox - delivering the first 160 characters of the email to the mobile phone. WAP enabled phones can access the mailbox and download the complete message, as well as replying on-line. (SOURCE: MDA)

The Messaging Centre Features include:
Access the system from ANY internet connected PC
NO set up fee and NO minimum monthly spend
Total control over who sends messages
There is NO contract term
Browser-based - NO software download required
128 Bit SSL Encryption ensures your company's data is KEPT CONFIDENTIAL
´HTTPS´ login for secure access
Unicode - Unicode gives you the ability to send messages in non supported GSM Character sets. For a full list of supported Unicode languages click here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode

Outbound Messages starting from 5.9p per message
Virtual numbers - £5 per month
Message storage - 20 per year for unlimited storage
Delivery confirmation FREE
Auto-reply FREE
Messaging forwarding FREE

For more information on The Messaging Centre (TMC) and its products and services, please visit www.tmcsms.com. To take a FREE, NO obligation trial now, please visit https://www.tmcsms.co.uk/signup/registertrial.aspx