Patients with appointments at Walsall’s Manor Hospital will receive a text message prompting them to attend after it emerged that around 21,000 people failed to turn up last year.
The no-shows cost in excess of £1million, health bosses said as they launched a campaign to reduce the losses.
As well as the financial loss to Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust, it also meant thousands of appointments were left empty when they could have been given to others on the waiting list.
Trust spokeswoman Trish Curtis said: “The Did Not Attend (DNA) rate in the last financial year, ending March 2007, was approximately 21,000 patients.
“The trust does not get paid for patients who DNA and this equates to a income loss to the trust of in excess of £1m for the last year.
“If patients are unable to attend for any reason and notify the hospital there is an opportunity to let another patient have that appointment.
“The hospital will be running a trial of a text message service to remind patients they have an appointment. This will be piloted in orthodontics and ENT (ear, nose and throat).
“Patients may notice when they are providing personal details they will be requested to provide a mobile number. The scheme runs successfully for the sexual health clinic.”
The figures were revealed today as part of the trust’s internal performance review. Plans to tackle the number of patients failing to turn up will discussed by the trust’s board tomorrow at the site in Pleck Road.
It is estimated that each year over 4.5million outpatient appointments are missed across the UK at a loss of around a possible £240-370million a year.
Text message trials were first launched in 2003.
The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust revealed in July that a team had already been set up as the scheme attempts to get off the ground there.
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