Recalling Patients by SMS Messaging

You can send a recall SMS text message to a group of patients using specific reports in Vision+ Practice Reports. This is particularly useful when recalling patients for specific QOF/QAIF or Enhanced areas.

To recall patients by SMS text message:

1. From the Windows Notification Area, right click Vision+  and select Practice Reports. Practice Reports opens by default on the QOF/QAIF screen, but you can select any report or patient group from the menu:

   

2. Select a report to run.

3. When you select a Practice or QOF/QAIF List 'Do you want to run this practice list now for the report date dd/mm/yyyy, or schedule it to run in the next 24 hours?' displays:

   

   Select from:

   • Run now - To run the report. The report screen displays with a progress bar.

     Training Tip - To run a report for call and recall invite purposes, you must select Run now.

   • Schedule - To schedule the report in the next 24 hours, the Schedule screen displays, enter a start time in the next 24 hours to run the report:

     Training Tip - This must be set using the 24 hour clock, for example, for 4pm use 16:00.

     

     You can now continue working as usual and the report runs as scheduled. Once a report is complete it displays in the Practice Reports - Last Run screen.

   • Cancel - To exit the confirmation screen.

4. When the report is complete, highlight a cohort line of patients that you want to send a text message to and select either Merge Indicator, Merge Category or Merge Patient Group, depending on what report you have selected:

   

5. The Mailings screen displays, select SMS:

   

6. The SMS screen displays:

   

   From here you can:

   • Open Patient - Select to open the highlighted patient in Consultation Manager.
   • Select All - Select to flag all the patients in the list with valid mobile numbers. You can then deselect as required.
   • Random Select - Randomly selects patients in the list. You can deselect/select as required.
   • Please select an SMS messages template - Select the predefined template required (the content of the text message). See Creating a Recall/Healthcare Invite SMS Message Template.
     Note - You have different SMS templates available for QOF/QAIF and non-QOF/QAIF Vision+ templates. If you cannot see one of your SMS templates, it may be attached to another practice list, see Attaching a Template to a Practice List for details.
   • Send SMS Messages (nn Texts Remaining) - Displays how many text messages are available to your practice. If you have selected more patients than the balance in your SMS account, you must either:
     • De-select patients down to the account balance, or
     • Purchase more SMS messages.
       Note - For practices that have an EE contract, the send SMS messages is automatically maintained for you and displays the message 'EE providing texts'.
   • SMS Filters - Filters the patients by:
     • No Filter - Selected by default, all patients within the patient list display. Patients with no or an invalid mobile number or those who have opted out of the SMS text messaging service, display in the no filter list but you cannot select them.
     • Validated Mobile Numbers - Select to display patients with valid mobile number only.
     • Invalid Mobile Numbers - Select to display patients who’s first mobile number is invalid.
     • Declined SMS - Select to display patients who have opted out of SMS text messaging.
     Training Tip - You can use the column headings to sort the report list, for example, if you want to display patients with mobile numbers at the top of the list, select the mobile number column heading.
7. Place a tick against the patients you want to send a message to or select Select All:

   

8. Select SMS Message to send the messages to the selected patients.
   Training Tip - If you are not on an EE contract you cannot send text messages unless your SMS account is in credit. The status bar above the patient list shows how many SMS messages remain. If you have selected more patients than the balance in your account, SMS Message is unavailable. You must either de-select patients down to the account balance or purchase more SMS messages.
9. If the patient has already received an appointment or recall invite in the last 28 days, the following message displays. Select Yes to continue:

   

10. The invite status automatically updates on the Mailings screen, displaying in the Invite Status column:

    

11. Once Vision+ receives confirmation from the SMS handling service that the message is sent, a clinical term automatically records to the patient's record:

    

    Important - If the message fails to deliver, no entry is made in the patient record and the invite status reverts back to the previous state.

Here is an example of a recall SMS text message received by a patient:

Please note the following:

• Where patients share the same mobile number and are within the same group for SMS invitations, only one SMS message is sent and charged for, but both patient records update with the clinical term. 
• Patients who receive SMS text messages whilst abroad are not charged.
• The following SMS reports are available:
  • Sent SMS Messages - Select to display a list of patients who have been sent a text message along with details of the message description, date sent and message status.
  • SMS Log - The SMS Log is for support purposes and displays sent, invalid and declined messages for all sent messages. The file name contains the date and time the SMS messages were sent.
  See SMS Message Reports for details.

View the following video to see how to send an SMS to multiple people: