All dental patients in the Highlands will be offered the option of receiving text messages to remind them of appointments.
The NHS Highland public dental service began rolling out the innovative text alert programme in June and it hopes that all dental clinics in the region will have the service by 2015.
It is hoped that using text reminders will help to reduce the amount of clinical time dental practices lose because patients simply fail to turn up.
The first NHS Highland practice to offer the service was the Lochshell Dental Clinic in Wick, which between June and December 2013 lost 253 hours of clinical time because patients failed to attend.
Alex Fraser, NHS Highland dental service manager, said: “At this early stage there has been no immediate improvement in DNA (did not attend) levels, though we are continuing to monitor the situation. However, it has been possible to free up for other purposes time usually spent by administrators in telephoning patients to remind them of their appointments.
“Although some independent contractor dental practices already offer this service to patients, it is not something that is mandatory. However, it does make sense to help patients with reminders while ensuring that the time of dental teams is not wasted.”
The use of texting is consistent with the Scottish Government’s good practice guidance, which identifies it as a useful way of communicating with patients and encourages boards to use this technology.
Clinics operating in NHS Highland’s Argyll and Bute Community Health Partnership area have been using text reminders for patients for some time, and the current roll-out will take in the 23 other practices under the board’s umbrella.
An evaluation of the impact of using the text service will be completed later this year.