Batch Messaging is one of the most effective ways of communicating with large numbers of patients at once. However, it also has the potential to be a large source of fragments, and therefore a large contributor to SMS costs.
Here's how you can be more sustainable with fragments in Batch Messaging! For more context on SMS costs and fragments, take a look at this article.
Make sure you are sending the right information to the right people
There are two main drivers for high fragments in Batch Messaging. These are:
Large numbers of recipients.
Very long messages.
Ensuring that your Batch Messages are conveying the message in as few characters as possible and are also relevant to the target cohort will ensure that they are as fragment-efficient as possible.
Templates are a great way to ensure a consistent message is delivered to patients in the most fragment-efficient way. Here's some more information on how to set up and edit your Batch Messaging Templates!
Use Batch Self-Book to fill your clinics
Sending all eligible patients a message to call and book a clinic can cause strain on your phone lines, and patients to receive the same message over and over again.
Sending a Batch Self-Book message allows you to fill your clinics up to 6 weeks (12 weeks if you have the extension enabled) in advance, with patients booking directly into slots in your EMIS/SystmOne appointment book. This means less admin time for your team, fewer SMS invitations to patients, and potentially thousands of fragments saved!
Use the Decline option in Self-Book to reduce the size of your cohort
You can also allow patients to decline an appointment in Batch Self-Book, which will automatically add a corresponding 'Decline' SNOMED code to their record.
This means that the next time you run your reports for Batch Self-Book, you can eliminate patients who have declined and reduce your patient list size, therefore saving a considerable amount in fragment costs.
Consider communicating with patients another way
SMS messages aren't always the most efficient way to communicate generic or non-urgent information to your patients.
Every organisation works differently, but it's worth considering other channels to let patients know this information. This could be via your website, recorded phone message, or even social media. For example 👇
Make sure patient contact information is correct and up to date
Even if a message fails to deliver to a patient's phone, the messaging provider still handles the message and attempts to send it. This therefore incurs a fragment cost.
The phone is switched off.
The phone is out of signal.
The phone number is no longer active.
Maintaining up-to-date patient mobile numbers is a really effective way to reduce these unnecessary fragments in Batch Messaging.
You can download a report to identify if there are patients who are consistently failing to deliver by clicking 'See details' to the right of your Batch Message, then clicking on the blue, underlined number below 'Failed to deliver'.
This will download a spreadsheet of all of the patients that this message failed to reach 👇
Batch Messaging with the NHS App
All Batch Messages sent via Accurx will now go via the NHS app as the first attempt at sending the message. If the notification isn't viewed within 24 hours (3 hours for the Blood pressure 4-day and 7-day home monitoring questionnaires), or the patient doesn't have the NHS App, we'll send it via SMS instead.
If you still have any questions or concerns, feel free to chat with us using the green message bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of this page.
