5 SMS Templates That Actually Get Patients to Show Up

You’ve called twice. Voicemail both times. Then you send a text and the same patient replies before lunch.

There is nothing mysterious about that: a phone call needs both people free at the same moment, and a text does not. So SMS earns its keep at the points in a referral where silence is what costs you the booking. Below are five messages, one for each of them, all carrying the opt-out line the rules require.

Template 1: Referral received confirmation

The GP has told the patient “I’m sending a referral to Dr Smith.” The patient waits, hears nothing, and calls the GP, who calls you. A same-day text ends that chain before it starts, and it is the cheapest cure for the silence patients fall into after a referral is sent.

Hi [First Name], your referral to [Practice Name] has been received. We'll be in touch within [X] business days to arrange your appointment. Reply STOP to opt out.

Template 2: Appointment offer

Ringing a patient to offer times is a two-attempt job at best: they’re at work, they’re driving, they can’t talk. A text lets them answer when it suits, and your front desk isn’t tied up leaving voicemails. It is usually the single biggest saving in the run from referral letter to booked appointment.

Hi [First Name], we have an appointment available with [Dr Name] on [Date] at [Time]. Please reply YES to confirm or call us on [Phone] to discuss. Reply STOP to opt out.

Tip: if you offer online booking, replace the phone number with a short link. Fewer calls for your team, faster booking for the patient.

Template 3: Appointment reminder (48 hours before)

Missed appointments are a quiet contributor to referral leakage. The referral is counted as handled, but the patient was never seen. Two days out is the useful window: long enough for the patient to rearrange, long enough for you to refill the slot.

Reminder: You have an appointment with [Dr Name] at [Practice Name] on [Date] at [Time]. Please call [Phone] if you need to reschedule. Reply STOP to opt out.

Tip: don’t send reminders on the morning of the appointment. By then it’s too late for the patient to rearrange and too late for you to fill a cancellation.

Template 4: No-show follow-up

Patients miss appointments for ordinary reasons: they forgot, they were unwell, they couldn’t get there. Most feel awkward about it and won’t ring you. A non-judgemental text makes rebooking easy without the phone call they’re avoiding.

Hi [First Name], we noticed you weren't able to make your appointment today. No worries - please call [Phone] or reply to this message to rebook. Reply STOP to opt out.

What not to do: keep fees, penalties and “failure to attend” language out of the SMS. If your practice charges for non-attendance, handle it by phone or letter. This message has one job: rebooking.

Template 5: Re-engagement (14+ days no response)

These are your ghosted patients. Referral received, contact attempted, nothing back. Each one is a booking your practice has already paid to generate, and a patient who may still need care.

Hi [First Name], we've been trying to reach you regarding your referral to [Practice Name]. We'd love to help - please call [Phone] when you're ready. Reply STOP to opt out.

Timing: send during business hours, midweek. Monday texts get lost in the start-of-week rush, and Friday texts get ignored over the weekend. If this one draws no reply, move to a letter or a call and update the referral status so it stops sitting in the queue unactioned.

Australian compliance, in four lines

Patient SMS is regulated. The Spam Act 2003 and ACMA rules apply to what you send, and the segment length decides what you pay.

Decide who owns the replies

A text is a two-way channel, and patients treat it that way. Ask for “reply YES” and you will also get “can I bring my scans?” and “I need a Thursday”. Those are correspondence about a patient, so they need the same handling as a phone message: someone named on the roster checks the inbox at set times, and anything that isn’t a plain YES gets written back to the patient’s record rather than left sitting in a phone.

Two habits keep it manageable. First, cap the messages per appointment, because patients who feel chased stop reading. Second, put the practice name in every message rather than only the doctor’s. A patient who has never met Dr Smith will still recognise the practice their GP named.

Putting it into practice

Copy-pasting all five from a shared document is genuinely fine for a handful a week. It stops being fine when nobody can say which patients got which message. That is when texts go out twice, or not at all.

If you’d rather the messages sat against the referral itself, SimpleRef triggers them at each stage of the referral board with the patient’s details filled in, so every message is logged where the rest of the referral lives. See how the board handles patient communication. Email is included on every plan; SMS is a paid add-on, and the plans page sets out what sits where.

Start with template 1. Send a same-day confirmation to every new referral for a week, and count the “has my referral been received?” calls before and after.

Frequently asked questions

What if a patient replies STOP and then rings up wanting an appointment? Book them as normal: STOP suppresses your automated messages, not the relationship. If they want texts again they have to opt back in themselves; don’t quietly re-enable them because they called.

How many segments will these actually cost? Two each, as written above. Watch what your merge fields expand to, though: a long practice name or a doctor’s full title can push a template past the next segment boundary without anyone noticing.