Enhancing Patient Services Through Digital Appointment Management: Evidence from Dedalus Swiftqueue

Healthcare systems across Europe are under growing pressure to improve elective care efficiency, reduce waiting times, and enhance patient experience. Missed appointments, known as Did Not Attends (DNAs), remain a major operational challenge for the NHS, with significant clinical and financial implications.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of Swiftqueue, a cloud-based digital scheduling and patient engagement platform, on outpatient appointment management at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

A retrospective observational analysis compared manual versus digital appointment scheduling for plain-film X-ray referrals across three hospital sites between January and June 2024. Key performance indicators included DNA rate, cancellation rate, booking completion rate, and administrative time. Statistical analysis was performed using the Chi-square test.

Among 14122 referrals, Swiftqueue implementation achieved a 74% reduction in DNA rate (12.1%→3.1%, p<0.001), a 62% decrease in cancellations (31.0%→11.8%, p<0.001), and a 13% relative increase in booking completion (82.8%→93.4%, p<0.001). Administrative workload decreased by approximately 20 hours per week.

Swiftqueue significantly improved outpatient scheduling efficiency and patient engagement while reducing administrative burden. These results support digitally enabled appointment management as a scalable strategy to enhance elective care recovery and patient-centred service delivery across the NHS.