Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the timeliness of NHS appointment notifications; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of different communication methods, including letters, text messages and email.

The Government is committed to supporting access to care and reducing missed appointments. The NHS App provides a core national channel for patients to view, receive, and manage appointment information across a range of care settings whilst ‘NHS Notify’ enables National Health Service organisations to send letters, text messages, and emails from a single platform.

Communication assessment work done by NHS England’s Behavioural Science Unit showed that such tailored messaging significantly increased patient response rates.