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HSE
HSE spends around €10,000 on appointment texts
Some hospitals use the texts in a bid to reduce non attendance at clinical appointments.
THE HSE SPENT around €10,000 on text messages to patients about clinical appointments over a 21-month period.
James Fogarty reports in the Medical Independent that from January 2011 to July 2012, HSE West sent the most texts to patients. It said this was in a bid to reduce non-attendance at clinical appointments.
Not every hospital uses the service – the Louth Meath Hospital Group and Cavan Monaghan Hospital Group don’t use the service. However, Connolly Hospital has a service in place, and it cost of €4,000 to send 35,000 texts in 2011.
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