A GP surgery has seen its no-shows plummet after tapping into artificial intelligence to get to the root of the problem. Trinity and Bowthorpe Medical Practice, which has sites in Norwich and Bowthorpe, is piloting a new scheme whereby AI is used to reduce the number of patients failing to show up for their appointments. The cutting-edge system uses information already held by the practice to identify when patients are more likely to miss their appointments.
In a process which takes a matter of seconds, the AI system flags up people who have previously failed to show up when they have made dates with their doctor or may have personal circumstances that make it more likely they might no-show. These patients are then sent additional prompts and reminders ahead of their future appointments to help make sure they don't forget. The practice has been using the system for around a year, during which time it has effectively halved its rate of no-shows - from 6pc of appointments being missed to 3pc.
Practice manager Fiona Wilson said: "It really has been making a big difference. "The amount of time it would take us to go through the details every person manually would be astronomical, but this takes seconds. "Missed appointments are a huge issue and every appointment that is missed is one somebody needed.
These have to be rebooked, at a time others also need to be seen. "But the problem needs a focus on support and solutions. It is easy to just complain about no-shows, but we need to .