Start by confirming appointment details, giving patients a clear way to cancel or reschedule, and sending reminders through an agreed channel. Measure missed visits before and after a workflow change. No single reminder schedule guarantees a particular reduction for every clinic.
Make the booking clear
At booking, confirm the date, time, clinic location and contact details. Check that the patient knows whether the time is an exact consultation slot or an arrival window. Give staff a consistent way to record cancellations and rescheduling.
Ask the patient which communication channel works for them. Keep reminder content limited to what is needed for attendance; avoid putting sensitive diagnosis details in a message that could appear on a shared phone.
Test a reminder workflow
Choose a reminder time that gives patients an opportunity to respond. A day-before reminder is one starting point to test; the right timing depends on your clinic. Make the next step clear: confirm, call reception, or use the available rescheduling process.
Check delivery failures and incorrect phone numbers. Decide who handles replies so an automated message does not leave a patient without help. If using WhatsApp or SMS, confirm the product supports your chosen channel and understand any message charges before enabling it.
Measure your own results
Track scheduled visits, attended visits, cancellations, rescheduled visits and no-shows as separate outcomes. Define no-show consistently, then calculate no-shows divided by scheduled visits using the same denominator each month. Do not count a cancellation as a missed visit in one period and exclude it in another.
Compare similar weeks and note holidays, clinic closures and changes in patient mix. Report actual counts alongside percentages, especially in a small clinic. WIMD does not claim a fixed no-show reduction here because a verified customer dataset has not been supplied.