Aneurin Bevan Saves £1m with DrDoctor

KEY FACTS

  • DNA rates dropped from 8.4% to 6% across the whole health board
  • Reduced waiting lists by 4%
  • Entire system rollout in 4 months
  • 12,600 Appointments saved
  • Increase in patient satisfaction, self-management and choice
  • Happier patients!

Challenge: 

ABUHB previously had an SMS solution, rolled out to one department, but identified a need to expand across the entire hospital. They we’re focused on; reaching a wider number of patients via their mobile services, creating ease for patients to change, cancel or book appointments and providing online appointment booking, wayfinding and information.

Goal:
DrDoctor started the project in September with an ambitious plan to roll out across 10 sites and 600k patients in just 6 months

This new text reminder service is improving patient experience while helping us to reduce missed appointments, which waste our precious NHS resources
Judith Paget, Chief Executive of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

I have been on the waiting list a long time for the treatment I am receiving and find it very beneficial. Knowing the cost of the treatment makes me more determined to keep my appointment.
Patient, Aneurin Bevan

Solution:
We began with our integration with the Myrddin patient administration system and this was completed in 3 weeks. A full product rollout followed, which replaced a prior existing system in T&O. Almost instantly we saw a reduction in DNA rates from 8% to below 6%.

With our designated Client Success Manager, all booking clerks, across two sites (north and south) were trained by the DrDoctor team in classroom training sessions. All managers were engaged in workshop sessions, which in included training, how to use the system to maximise value in their areas and a chance to ask questions. We then rolled out to a speciality every two weeks, including reviewing clinic setup, removing old clinics and verifying templates for accuracy.

Within 4 months (ahead of schedule), the system was fully rolled out, including configuring 160 separate locations and thousands of clinics. This was a real team effort, working closely with the Health Records team to make change happen at pace. We spent the remaining time optimising the solution, to make it work for all clinics. To make things as accessible as possible, we linked the patient portal to the hospital wifi, so patients using this could login and see appointment details.