Using short message services in mental health services: assessing feasibility
| Date | 06 July 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/mhrj.2010.0369 |
| Published date | 06 July 2010 |
| Pages | 28-33 |
| Author | Harpreet Sanghara,Eugenia Kravariti,Hanne Jakobsen,Chike Okocha |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Mental Health Review Journal Volume 15 Issue 2 June 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd
28
RESEARCH
10.5042/mhrj.2010.0369
Harpreet Sanghara
Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, Greenwich Time to Talk, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, UK
Eugenia Kravariti
Lecturer in Mental Health Studies, King’s College London, King’s Health Partners, Institute of Psychiatry, UK
Hanne Jakobsen
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Adult Acute Inpatient Services, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, UK
Chike Ify Okocha
Medical Director/Consultant Psychiatrist, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, UK
Using short message services
in mental health services:
assessing feasibility
Abstract
On average, the National Health Service (NHS) loses annually £360 million in opportunity costs due to
non-attendance of outpatient appointments (Stone et al, 1999). In addition to draining healthcare resources,
failure to attend clinical appointments incurs personal costs. Mobile phone technology has been applied
successfully to reducing appointment non-attendance and improving clinical outcomes for patients with
physical illnesses. However, it is unclear whether these applications can be extended to patients with
severe and enduring mental disorders. We conducted a trust-wide survey of 141 psychiatric inpatients of
the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust (82% of the Trust’s total inpatient population) to establish how many
respondents owned a mobile phone (62%), could use text-messaging services (62%) and were willing to
use the latter as a means of communication with the Trust (80%). Compared to patients with psychotic
illnesses, those with non-psychotic illnesses reported higher rates of mobile phone ownership (78% versus
55%, p=0.01), ability to use text messaging (76% versus 56%, p=0.03) and willingness to receive text
messages from the Trust (90% versus 76%, p=0.05). The results of the survey were used to inform the
planning of a pilot study aimed at reducing non-attendance rates of outpatient appointments in Oxleas.
Key words
Non-attendance, mental health, text messaging, feasibility.
Introduction
The National Health Service (NHS) loses annually
£360 million in opportunity costs due to non-
attendance of outpatient appointments (Stone
et al, 1999). In addition to draining healthcare
resources, appointment non-attendance incurs
personal costs (Haste et al, 1998; Appleby et
al, 1999). Some evidence suggests a role of
mobile phone technology in improving service
attendance in clinical populations. For example,
in a study of 22,658 paediatric outpatients in
Australia, short message service (SMS) reminders
were associated with significantly reduced
failure-to-attend (FTA) rates compared to a
historical control cohort (Downer et al, 2006).
The cost of SMS was small when viewed against
the increased patient revenue and benefits of
improved attendance. However, the observed
FTA reduction was comparable to that found
using traditional reminder methods (Downer et
al, 2006). In addition, Brady et al (2006) found
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