Improving outpatient department efficiency: a randomized controlled trial comparing hospital and general-practice telephone reminders.

AIMS: This study aimed to ascertain whether or not telephone reminders reduce non-attendance at hospital outpatient clinics and whether telephone reminders from general practitioners are more effective than those made from hospitals.

METHODS: Outpatient department appointments for three general practitioners (GPs) over a three-month period, were randomized into three groups: 'Hospital', 'GP', and 'Control'. Patients in the Hospital and the GP groups were reminded of their appointment by telephone 24 hours beforehand, by a hospital waiting-list clerk or their general practitioner respectively. Information was recorded on appointment awareness and subsequent attendance history.

RESULTS: A total of 109 patients were included in the study. The three study groups had 'no show' rates of 3% (GP), 8% (Hospital), and 27% (Control). The combined 'no show' rate for the groups reminded by telephone was 5%. The combined telephone-reminded group was statistically different from the Control group (p = 0.004). There was no statistical difference between the GP group and the Hospital group (p = 0.764).

CONCLUSIONS: In this study, telephone reminders significantly decreased outpatient department 'no show' rates. The source of the telephone reminder made no difference to non-attendance.