Patients of GP practices in Wirral are receiving appointment reminders and health information to their mobiles phones by text message.

NHS Wirral has funded surgeries to launch and operate a patient care messaging service, which can reduce the number of people who do not turn up to their appointments.

According to recent research, non-attendance to appointments cost the NHS - and the tax payer – more than £750m per year.

The text message system, called IPlato, has proven to reduce non-attendance by between 26% and 40%.

NHS Wirral says it also hopes to provide patients with health information through the communication channel.

A spokesman said the text messages are free to receive for the patient. If patients choose to respond, they will be charged standard operator rates depending on their individual contract.

Participating GP practices will be asking patients if they are willing to record their mobile contact details.

Barbara Dunton, deputy head of Bebington and West Wirral NHS, said: "Mobile patient services have proven that they are cost effective and scalable and are, therefore, the way forward in Wirral.

"We have a diverse population of patients registered with GPs and many already use mobiles to run their daily lives."