Text messages remind patients of appointments

Patients at Homerton University Hospital trust in Hackney, east London, will from this month receive a text-message reminder two days before their next outpatient appointment is due.The message will prompt patients to call back on a freephone number if they are unable to keep the appointment.The three-month pilot scheme has been launched in Hackney because it has a higher than average number of mobile-phone users.Dipek Duggal, general manager of accident and emergency services, said he believed that [texts] will become 'a routine part of hospital life in the next 12 months'.