Challenge background
CTM University Health Board is seeking innovative solutions that help reduce missed appointments and improve access to planned care.
The challenge focuses on understanding and addressing the barriers that lead to non-attendance, supporting fairer access to services, improving patient experience and making better use of NHS resources.
We welcome ambitious, creative and collaborative approaches that have the potential to deliver meaningful benefits for patients, staff and health and care systems across Wales. Solutions should be developed with future scalability, adaptability, affordability and long-term sustainability in mind, supporting potential adoption across multiple organisations and care settings where appropriate.
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (CTM UHB) experiences persistently high rates of missed outpatient appointments, with approximately 64,000 appointments missed over the last 12 months. These missed appointments create challenges for patients and services alike, contributing to longer waiting times, underutilised clinical capacity, financial inefficiencies and poorer patient experience.
CTM estimates that missed appointments may account for approximately £9.6 million of avoidable lost value each year, representing a significant opportunity to improve both patient access and the use of NHS resources.
Evidence suggests that non-attendance is often linked to a range of practical, behavioural, communication and accessibility barriers rather than a simple choice not to attend. These barriers can include challenges associated with appointment communication, transport, geography, caring responsibilities, socioeconomic factors, digital exclusion, health inequalities and service design.
Contracts for Innovation Cymru is seeking innovative solutions that help people overcome these barriers, reducing missed appointments whilst improving access to planned care.
The challenge is deliberately open and does not prescribe a particular technology, product or service. We welcome ideas from a wide range of sectors and disciplines and encourage applicants to think creatively about how attendance, access and patient experience can be improved.
The challenge
We are seeking innovative approaches that help reduce missed appointments and improve access to planned care.
Solutions may address one or more aspects of the challenge, including but not limited to:
- Appointment communication and engagement
- Accessibility of information
- Appointment planning and management
- Behavioural approaches that encourage attendance
- Identification of individuals at increased risk of non-attendance
- Travel and accessibility barriers
- Digital tools and services
- Community-based support models
- Service and pathway redesign
- Data-driven approaches to improve attendance and access
Applicants are encouraged to consider how different barriers interact and how solutions may support a diverse population with differing needs and circumstances.
Who can apply?
Any organisation can submit an application, although it is expected that opportunities presented by Contracts for Innovation will be particularly attractive for SMEs.
Phase 1: Discovery and Feasibility will support the exploration, development and early testing of innovative approaches. Activities may include:
- Discovery and research
- User engagement and co-design
- Feasibility assessment
- Prototype development
- Early testing
- Data analysis
- Service design
- Technical validation
Subject to future funding availability, strategic priorities and the outcomes generated through Phase 1, selected projects may be invited to participate in a subsequent Phase 2 competition focused on further development, real-world testing and evaluation. Projects progressing to this stage would be expected to undertake testing within operational health and care settings.
Briefing
Contracts for Innovation Cymru will hold an online applicant briefing (MS Teams) on this challenge, along with three others being launched simultaneously, on Friday 2 October, 9.30am-1pm: click here to register for a briefing place.
For further information on the challenge, visit Contracts for Innovation Cymru at the link below.