Sex clinic gives good text

Patients will soon be able to book appointments at London's Royal Free Hospital 24 hours a day via text message.

The genito-urinary medicine (GUM) and sexual health clinics are to run a four-week pilot of the scheme through January.

Patients wishing to book an appointment will text their request and will then be sent a choice of three appointments over the next 48 hours.

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Once the user has selected their desired appointment via their mobile, the system will text back a confirmation number to be used to verify the identity of patients when they arrive at the clinic.

Dr. Dan Ivens, consultant at the Royal Free, told silicon.com that the system should tackle the "issue of patient access through the phone" by allowing people to avoid phone queues and book appointments at any time of the day.

Ivens added that the system is a response to the Department of Health's (DoH) directive to ensure that patients can book medical appointments within two working days.

The pilot has been financed by the NHS innovation fund and counters recent comments from O2's CEO criticising the public sector's lack of use of mobile comms.

The information gained from the pilot, along with trials elsewhere, will also help the DoH to determine the feasibility of using such methods to more effectively manage demand.

The system was developed by London-based healthcare software company Softcare Medical with the help of Avanquest and Computer Communications Limited.

Read how nursing staff in Devon and Bolton are using tech to improve patient care here.