The Director of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), Adasat Goya, held a meeting with the Director of Health for Fuerteventura, Tomás Pérez, and the Manager of Health Services on the island, María Luisa Naranjo. They discussed the implementation of a project that allows Fuerteventura General Hospital to communicate interactively with its patients via SMS to manage their appointments with specialist doctors. The SCS launches SMS appointment reminder system at Fuerteventura General Hospital
This reminder management system is an interactive communication project via SMS. It directs the user to a simple application that offers the patient the option to confirm, cancel, or request a date change for the appointment in the event they cannot attend.
Patients will receive an SMS ten days prior to their appointment. They will have the option to confirm their attendance or indicate if they need to reschedule. In this way, patients will receive a text message with a personalised link, allowing them access to specific details of their appointment, including location, service, time, and options for confirmation, cancellation, or change.
This application, created by the SCS, is in collaboration with the 012 Information and Telephone Assistance Service. It offers patients the opportunity to interact with the system regarding hospital consultations for the first time, a previously unavailable option.
During the meeting, Adasat Goya highlighted that this application addresses the need to attend to patients with minimal delay. Its aim is to improve appointment management and reduce waiting lists in this field.
“This new tool enhances communication between the Majorcan hospital and its users. It allows us to optimise activity in consultations, as cancelled appointments can be rescheduled. This helps prevent empty slots in the schedules due to no-shows,” Goya added.
Pilot Programme
The pilot programme for this system began last May at the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital in Tenerife and at La Palma University Hospital. It has also been launched in the Health Services of the La Gomera Health Area, as well as the Insular-Maternal-Child University Hospital Complex. It will gradually extend to the other hospital centres across the Canary Islands, aiming to further improve appointment management processes with specialist doctors and enhance patient access to scheduled medical evaluations.
This application replaces any previous active solutions developed by some centres that had previously started to create similar systems. Thus, the SCS provides an equal tool for all centres and gives patients the same opportunity regardless of the reference hospital they attend based on their health card.
Telephone Support
If there is no response to the message, the appointment reminder manager will activate a telephone call protocol. An operator will attempt to contact the patient by phone to maximise the chances of locating them and to record the confirmation, cancellation, or request for a change of appointment from the patient.
If the patient does not use a mobile phone, they will receive a call to their landline for the same purpose.
With this project, the SCS takes another step towards improving patient care, optimising resources, and reducing absences in consultations, advancing towards a more modern, agile, accessible, and efficient healthcare model.
Access to the Service
Users are reminded that in order to access this SMS system, they must have their health card details up to date.
Participation of 012
This project is carried out in collaboration with the 012 Information and Telephone Assistance Service of the Government of the Canary Islands. It will also provide information and advice about the new service upon user demand, having strengthened its workforce with more than four hundred professionals.
The SCS launches SMS appointment reminder system at Fuerteventura General Hospital
