Twicet

• Reduce their DNA rates.
• Integrate with Hospital Systems.
• Improve communication with both patients and staff.
• Reduce costs associated with each DNA.
• Provide a secure, easy to use system that adhered to Data Protection Laws.

...Here in St Vincent's we wanted a communication system that would allow us to contact patients & staff quickly, effectively, discreetly and more cost effectively compared to traditional methods...

Dermot Cullinan - Director of ICT

...My role was to manage the application integration while ensuring that it met with hospital requirements...

Martina Corcoran - ICT Project Manager

Solution:
St. Vincent's chose Grapevine's Defero Advance Notification System to send automated appointment reminders via SMS text messages to patients for their upcoming appointments. A 3-month pilot project was undertaken with 2 clinics within the hospital. To help determine the optimal time to remind patients of their appointments.

Benefits:

"Getting the Message to Patients"
Taken from The Sunday Business Post - Author: Leslie Faughan - Sunday 27th Sept 2009

Like every hospital in the state, St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin has had a problem for years with managing outpatient appointments for its wide range of clinics. In essence, the rate of ‘no-shows’ or, as the hospital more politely records it, Did Not Attends (DNAs) could be up to 40 per cent. The implications for the hospital are very serious in terms of wasted time by clinicians and other staff, and the related costs.

A general HSE cost figure for each hospital DNA is Dermot Cullinan and Martina Corcoran of the St about e80 per patient. Arguably,the closing out of appointment times for other patients might be an even more serious consequence. A major step forward in solving, or at least alleviating, the problem is the Defero text messaging system which has recently finished a very successful three-month trial in St Vincent’s. Developed by Dublin firm Grapevine Solutions, the Defero software links to the hospital’s patient administration system. Appointment reminders are sent to outpatients by SMS or e-mail, initially at 15, ten and five-day intervals.

‘‘We believe the most common cause is that people just forget the exact date and many of our patients simply do not use a diary,’’ said Martina Corcoran, the ITdepartment project manager for the trial.‘‘Advance appointments are usually made when the patient is in a clinic; confirmation letters are posted of course. But, for a range of reasons, the level of non-attendance at appointments varies from around 15 per cent to over 40 per cent, Vincent’s IT team which is extremely wasteful of our limited resources.’’

Since St Vincent’s sees around 143,000 outpatients annually in its various clinics, the average DNA rate of 23 percent represents almost 30,000 missed appointments, and suggests a cost through waste of the order of e2 million-plus. ‘‘We piloted the text messaging system in two of our busiest clinics, ENTandurology,’’ Corcoran said. ‘‘The non-attendance figure for patients on the SMS system dropped to just 8 per cent over the period.’’ Dermot Cullinan, head of ITR, said that Defero messaging was just one element of a combined effort between the clinical and administrative teams.

‘‘We used poster campaigns, leaflets and reminders to patients in order to emphasise the importance of keeping appointments or re-scheduling them and, of course, making it easy to do that. As part of that we invited patients to opt in to the SMS scheme, so that we had their permission and their interest.’’ But he said that the Defero system was the new star of the show, linked to the patient system so that the reminders were automatic, accurate and accurately targeted.

‘‘We have already decided to roll it out as the key part of a co -operative program me across all outpatient clinics with an ambitious but, we believe, realistic target of bringing non-attendance down to a 5 per cent level.’’ While the Defero system was an investment primarily targeted at outpatient DNA rates, it is envisaged that it will be used for other communications purposes throughout the hospital. Staff notifications or alerts, for example, can be automatically generated or sent speedily to specific groups such as clinical staff on call, or if required in emergency situations. Ad hoc requirements for messages to patients or staff can be sent using a simple web interface.

Taken from The Sunday Business Post - Author: Leslie Faughan - Sunday 27th Sept 2009

Download the case study in PDF format here
Download the St. Vincents article By Leslie Faughan here

Press Release :

Grapevine Solution's Defero Product & St Vincent's Hospital Group receives a Commendation in “Best Use of IT” at this year's 2009 Healthcare Awards.

Dublin, Ireland - October 20th 2009.
This year's Healthcare Awards, sponsored by the Irish Medical Times (IMT), featured Grapevine Solutions messaging product, “Defero” in conjunction with St Vincent's Healthcare Group. The collaboration was awarded a commendation in the category “Best Use of IT” and has proved itself to be a deserving contender for this coveted title. In June 2009 the IMT reported on a survey the HSE carried out in 30 hospitals over a 3-month period. The HSE surveyed missed appointments, which are internally classified as “Did Not Attend” or DNA rates by the HSE.

The survey found that over 100,000 appointments were missed, and with an estimated cost of €80 per DNA, that equates to €8 million. The HSE expects the cost of DNA's for 2009 to be in the region of €33 million. This is a world-wide problem and the NHS in the UK estimates that DNA's will cost approximately £750 million per annum.

St Vincent's sees around 143,000 outpatients annually with an average DNA rate of 23 per cent, representing almost 30,000 missed appointments per year. In December 2008 St. Vincent's decided to tackle this problem & tendered for a new text messaging solution to send appointment reminders to patients. Grapevine was awarded the contract in early 2009 and a pilot project commenced soon after. The 3-month pilot project was carried out with 2 of the busiest clinics in St. Vincent's Hospital: ENT and Nutrition & Dietetics. Patients attending the ENT clinic were automatically sent an appointment reminder via an interface with the hospitals Patient Administration System. The Nutrition & Dietetics clinic used the Defero web client to manually send appointment reminders as needed. The pilot was a major success with DNA rates reduced by 44% over the trial period. St. Vincent's have a target DNA rate of 5%. Since the successful completion of the pilot, new clinics such as Neurology & Urology have also been included.

As well as contacting patients, other hospital services such as the Nurse Bank were able to use the Defero Contacts Module to communicate with hospital staff. It is envisaged that Defero will be used for other communication purposes throughout the hospital including the hospital Major Emergency Plan.
“Here in St Vincent's we wanted a communication system that would allow us to contact patients & staff quickly, effectively, discreetly and more cost effectively compared to traditional methods.”
Dermot Cullinan - Director of ICT in St Vincent's

“Reducing the DNA rate is the focus of a multidisciplinary team. Defero is a tool that is easy to use and is not time consuming on staff
time.”
Martina Corcoran - ICT Project Manager in St Vincent's

Grapevine's Defero product was designed to ensure that patients received timely appointment reminders direct to their mobile phone no matter where they are located. This form of communication is cost effective, efficient and direct. Defero can be easily integrated with most Patient Administration Systems and includes a Web portal that allows end users to manually send & schedule appointment reminders Terry Byrne, Managing Director of Grapevine Solutions says, “Our experience of working with healthcare providers for over 15 years helped us to design Defero so that it was very userfriendly and could be quickly integrated with existing hospital systems & allows the hospital to manage patient & staff communications in line with their existing procedures.”

With the successful implementation in St Vincent's and interest from other hospitals, Grapevine expects to establish Defero as the best means to deliver effective staff and patient communication. Whether it is to notify emergency staff, remind patients of their appointments or inform nurses of new shifts, Defero gets the message across.

Download Press Release PDF here

About St Vincent's Hospital Group
St Vincent's Healthcare Group, (incorporating St Vincent's University Hospital, St Vincent's Private Hospital and St Michael's Hospital) provides acute general medical care serving the South East region of Dublin and surrounding areas.

 

© Grapevine Solutions 2009