UNIVERSITY Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust, has been honoured with a national award for its pilot project aimed at reducing outpatient appointment cancellations.
The hospital is in collaboration with tech giant IBM and process intelligence platform provider Celonis and won the title of the Best Healthcare Analytics Project at the Health Service Journal Partnership Awards.
The project – which utilised Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyse processes – identified a significant increase in last-minute cancellations among a specific patient cohort after receiving two text reminders.
The team discovered that sending appointment reminders 14 days and four days before the scheduled date proved most effective in reducing cancellations.
The approach led to a reduction in Did Not Attends (DNA) from 10 per cent to four per cent.
Chief executive officer, Professor Andy Hardy, said: “Through these exciting technologies we have been able to make changes far more quickly than we would have before.
“Using AI gives us a far bigger picture of our patient demographics and needs, rather than just booking them in for appointments chronologically, and massively improves the patient experience.
“We know getting patients seen quickly improves outcomes and we are looking forward to continuing to work with AI and expand its use for the benefit of more patients.”
The success of the project led to additional funding being allocated to expand the use of AI technologies.
The team picked up its award in a Ceremony in London where they were also a bronze winner in the Best Elective Care Recovery Initiative category.
