News
Text messaging helps obesity battle in Hammersmith and Fulham
22 February 2008
Hammersmith & Fulham Primary Care Trust has successfully tested the
use of text messaging to collect data on the weight of patients for an
anti-obesity campaign.
The Trust used iPLATO Patient Care Messaging linked to GP practice
software (EMIS, INPS Vision, etc) to contact patients via text message.
In this case the message was: "What is your weight?"
The trial enabled patients' medical records to be updated quickly and
efficiently with a current body mass index (BMI) reading. The PCT’s
Local Enhanced Service for Cardiovascular Disease requires a recent BMI
reading for 40% of the population.
The campaign took less than one hour of a practice manager’s time,
including searching for patients with old or no BMI reading, sending the
text message, receiving replies and entering the results back onto the
patient record.
This approach proved considerably more effective than traditional
ways of obtaining this information. The Bush Doctors Surgery, in
Hammersmith & Fulham PCT achieved a response rate of 29%.
The campaign will now be replicated across the Borough, touching the
lives of almost 100,000 people.
Nearly a quarter of adults and a fifth of children are obese in the
UK. The government has launched a £372m ‘healthy living’ strategy to cut
levels of obesity in England.
Mandy Norton, Practice Manager at The Bush Doctors said, ‘’Text
messaging has been a massive help, enabling us to gather a patient’s
weight quickly in order to calculate their BMI. Of course we weigh
people at the surgery, but this method allows us to quickly and very
cost effectively update the records of people who may not need our
services very often. With mobile being the communication method of
choice for our very varied patient base and with obesity levels being
where they are, we feel that this is a perfect complement to our current
service ’’.
iPLATO’s Managing Director, Tobias Alpsten said, “Over the years we
have seen surgeries use our text messaging system to develop health
promotion campaigns. Being able to obtain a patient’s current BMI
reading in a fast and accurate way could play a significant role in the
fight to reduce obesity levels nationwide.’’
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