Nottingham City CCG has adopted the use of text message alerts directly sent from the GP to the patient to encourage uptake of NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. Thus far, the method has been received very well and has led to 100% uptake of invitation to be referred. The initial number of practices this was tested on was 15, with plans to rollout even further across the Nottinghamshire STP.

Dawn Jameson, Service Improvement Manager from Nottingham City CCG, said “The text message alerts have been an excellent way to encourage patients to attend the NHS DPP and ensure they benefit from a potentially life-saving intervention. It’s a quick, simple and low-cost approach that can yield significant benefits for patient outcomes and I would encourage all NHS DPP sites to use this as a method to encourage uptake of the programme. I think it’s the personal approach that makes all the difference. When patients see a text message from their GP, they are much more likely to take action.”

Dawn has kindly shared the text message for colleagues to adopt and adapt as necessary for local use. The text message sent out was as follows: “Previous blood tests have shown you are at risk of getting diabetes in the future. There is a new, free service that can help you make changes to reduce this risk of diabetes. Please contact the surgery on XX after XX am if you are interested.”