Text alerts for no-show patients

A Wearside dentist is considering text reminders for his patients, in an effort to reduce an average of 650 missed appointments every month.

Phillip Ramshaw says the missed appointments amount to almost two weeks lost surgery time a month.

Mr Ramshaw is partner in two NHS dental practices in Sunderland, which cater for more than 50,000 patients.

He said specialist technology was being looked at so patients could be reminded the day before due appointments.

Waiting list

Mr Ramshaw, a partner in Ramshaw and Silver, said: "We keep a month by month record of missed appointments and last month we had 654, which is about average.

"If you imagine that 15 minutes is the minimum appointment time, then it is probably two weeks of working surgery time lost.

"This means that people are waiting for two months for the first appointment anyway. So if you lose that time they have to wait another two months to be seen. So it just expands the waiting list enormously.

"We are looking at technology with a Newcastle-based company to enable us to text patients the day before an appointment."

Mr Ramshaw said the cost of setting up a text system was "negligible" compared to the lost surgery time his practice was suffering.