Reliable SMS for Patient Communication
Reduce no-shows with appointment reminders, keep patients informed with proactive notifications, and communicate with staff in real time. GDPR-compliant infrastructure built for healthcare.
Appointment Reminders
Missed appointments cost healthcare providers thousands of pounds per week in wasted clinical time and lost revenue. SMS appointment reminders reduce no-show rates by up to 45% — and when combined with two-way confirmation, they give patients the opportunity to cancel or reschedule in advance, freeing up slots for waiting list patients. Our scheduling engine handles reminder sequences automatically.
Two-way SMS confirmation workflows let patients respond YES to confirm or NO to cancel — with your scheduling system updated automatically via webhook. Recall campaigns re-engage patients who are due for routine check-ups, screenings, or follow-up appointments, supporting preventive care programmes. Opt-out management ensures patients who prefer not to receive reminders are suppressed without manual intervention.
Discuss RequirementsKey Capabilities
- Automated reminder sequences (e.g. 7 days, 24 hours)
- Two-way SMS confirmation and cancellation
- Webhook callbacks to update scheduling systems
- Personalisation with patient name and appointment details
- Recall campaign management
- Opt-out handling and consent management
- GDPR compliant message handling
- Delivery confirmation per reminder sent
Patient Notifications
Proactive patient notifications improve outcomes and reduce unnecessary calls to reception. Whether a prescription is ready for collection, a test result is available to view online, or a care plan has been updated, SMS delivers the notification in seconds and is read within minutes. Patients feel informed and cared for — and your clinical and administrative staff spend less time fielding inbound enquiries.
All patient notification content is handled under our GDPR-compliant infrastructure. We do not include sensitive clinical information in message content — instead, messages direct patients to secure portals or ask them to call for further details. Full audit trails of every message sent support data protection accountability requirements.
Discuss RequirementsKey Capabilities
- GDPR compliant message content and handling
- Secure portal link delivery
- Full audit trail per notification
- Delivery receipt with timestamp
- DND compliance across all destination markets
- API and web platform send options
- Opt-out management and suppression
- Unicode support for multilingual patient communications
Staff & Internal Alerts
Healthcare organisations depend on reliable staff communication — particularly for urgent situations. Whether you need to fill an urgent shift, communicate a clinical incident, send an emergency alert to on-call staff, or notify the team of a policy change, SMS reaches everyone immediately regardless of whether they are at a desk or on the ward.
Our bulk SMS platform sends to large staff lists in seconds, with priority routing ensuring urgent alerts are never delayed. Delivery confirmations let managers know which staff members have received critical communications, and two-way SMS allows staff to acknowledge alerts or respond to shift requests directly.
Discuss RequirementsKey Capabilities
- Priority routing for urgent staff alerts
- Bulk send to large staff contact lists
- Delivery confirmation per recipient
- Two-way SMS for shift acknowledgement
- Escalation routing for unacknowledged alerts
- On-call group messaging
- Scheduled sends for shift reminders
- Secure sender ID for staff-only communications
Trusted Across Healthcare
From NHS trusts to private clinics, SBS TELECOM provides the reliable, compliant SMS infrastructure that healthcare organisations depend on for patient and staff communication.
Healthcare SMS — FAQs
Is your SMS platform compliant with NHS and healthcare GDPR requirements?
Yes. SBS TELECOM operates under UK GDPR and processes data in compliant UK data centres. We provide Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) as standard and our systems support the audit trail, data retention, and access control requirements relevant to healthcare organisations. We recommend working with your Data Protection Officer to ensure your specific use cases align with your organisation's data protection obligations.
How much can appointment reminder SMS reduce no-show rates?
Studies across NHS and private healthcare settings consistently show SMS appointment reminders reduce DNA (Did Not Attend) rates by 30–45%. The most effective implementations use multi-step reminder sequences (e.g. a reminder 7 days and again 24 hours before the appointment) combined with two-way confirmation that allows patients to cancel and free up slots for other patients.
Can patients reply to SMS reminders to confirm or cancel?
Yes. Our two-way SMS capability allows patients to reply with a keyword (e.g. YES to confirm, NO to cancel) which triggers a webhook to your scheduling system to update the appointment status automatically. This creates a seamless, low-effort confirmation workflow for patients and removes the need for manual processing by your reception team.
Can I include clinical information in patient SMS messages?
We strongly advise against including sensitive clinical information in SMS message content as SMS is not an encrypted channel. Best practice is to use SMS to notify patients that information is available (e.g. "Your test results are ready — log in to your patient portal or call us on...") and direct them to secure channels for the actual clinical content. This approach is both GDPR-compliant and clinically appropriate.
Can you handle large volumes for NHS-scale organisations?
Yes. Our infrastructure is designed for enterprise scale and processes hundreds of millions of messages per month. NHS trusts with large patient populations, complex appointment scheduling, and multi-site operations are within our normal operational scope. We work with your technical and procurement teams to ensure the right integration, volume, and SLA structure is in place from the outset.
Discuss Healthcare SMS.
Our team will help you build a compliant, reliable SMS programme that reduces no-shows, keeps patients informed, and supports your clinical and administrative workflows.