Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has issued guidance to GP practices on the wording of appointment reminder messages to patients; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of encouraging practices to use confirmation-based reminders rather than cancellation-based reminders to reduce non-attendance rates.

General practices are independent businesses that hold contracts with the National Health Service, and each sets its own policies on managing missed appointments to best meet the needs of its local population. We know that many practices already use automated reminder systems that include the option for patients to cancel if they no longer need their appointment.

98.9% of practices now use cloud-based telephony systems, which can provide built‑in functionality to support appointment cancellation. It is for individual practices to determine how and if these functionalities are implemented.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out that the NHS App will be the front door to the NHS, where patients will be able to book, move, and cancel their appointments, and communicate with their health team, with ease, helping reduce no-shows by allowing easier management and notifications.