Missed appointments represent a huge problem across the NHS, with published data showing that there were around 8 million missed outpatient appointments in England alone last year.
This meant that more than one in 20 (6.4%) of 124.5 million scheduled appointments were not attended by the patient.
This had an estimated cost to the NHS of £1.2bn and had a knock-on effect on waiting lists.
Now, NHS England (NHSE) is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to help deal with the problem.
The software, designed by Deep Medical, uses algorithms and anonymised data to predict the likelihood of missed appointments, as well as improve the process of implementing back-up bookings.
The system has already been successfully trialled over a six-month pilot scheme at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
It resulted in a reduction of almost a third (30%) in ‘did not attends’ (DNAs) over the six-month period, preventing 337 DNAs and enabling an additional 1,910 patients to be seen.
It’s estimated that the trust, which services around 1.2 million patients, could save approximately £27.5m per year by continuing with the programme.
The AI system is now being rolled out across a further 10 NHS trusts around the country.
AI analyses reasons for patients missing appointments
The AI algorithms delve into the reasons why patients might miss appointments, including external issues such as traffic, weather and work patterns.
The AI can then allocate appointments that are less likely to be missed, such as offering limited evening and weekend slots to people who are less able to take time off during the day.
It can also provide intelligent back-up bookings to minimise the amount of clinical time lost due to DNAs.
Dr Vin Diwakar, NHSE national director for transformation, said that the NHS had “long been a pioneer of innovation”, with AI providing a new way of improving care and providing value for money.
NHSE said that the recent budget had committed to an additional £3.4bn of capital funding, allowing the NHS to double its investment in new technology.
At another pilot at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust, AI was used to look at DNAs and found that new schedules of messaging reminders to patients helped cut the number of missing appointments from 10% to just 4%.
Today’s news was brought to you by TD SYNNEX – the UK’s number one solutions distributor.
