Why has an invite code been added when a message was not delivered?

Valid message attempts 

Under several QOF indicators, practices are expected to make at least two attempts to contact a patient before they can be excluded from the indicator for the year due to non-response. Although not specified, this should ideally be via different channels (SMS, e-mail, letter, etc).

Messages may not reach a patient for several reasons. For example:

• A letter may be lost in the post.
• An email may be directed to a spam folder.
• A notification may not be read.
• A patient’s mobile phone may be lost, switched off or temporarily disconnected from the network.

Even successfully delivered messages can sometimes take several days to arrive.

As long as the message was sent using genuine contact details recorded in the patient’s record, such as a valid postal address, phone number or email address, it counts as a legitimate attempt to contact the patient and should be captured in their record. 

When a message is sent

When Abtrace sends an SMS or email, we receive an immediate response from the network or carrier confirming whether the message has been accepted for delivery.

If the message is accepted by the carrier

If the message is accepted, this indicates that the contact details are valid. Abtrace immediately writes a copy of the message to the patient’s notes, along with any selected invitation codes.

Most patients receive their messages within the following few minutes. Some may contact the practice promptly, so it is important that practice staff can see a copy of the message in the patient’s record straight away. 

If the message is not accepted by the carrier

If the carrier rejects the message immediately, for example because the phone number is invalid, Abtrace records the failure in the execution report. A copy of the message and the invitation codes are not added to the patient’s record.

If the message cannot be delivered later

In a small minority of cases, a message may initially be accepted by the network or carrier but cannot be delivered immediately. This may happen because the patient’s phone is switched off or there is a temporary network issue.

The carrier may continue trying to deliver the message for several days. If these attempts remain unsuccessful, the carrier will eventually notify Abtrace that delivery has failed.

Abtrace collates these delayed delivery failures into a digest and emails the list to the sending practice.

Abtrace does not remove or mark the existing message copy and invitation codes as entered in error. Abtrace is not the data owner, and doing so would conflict with guidance limiting the removal or redaction of information from the patient record. Instead, we provide practices with the list of affected patients and a simple way to delete the entries if they wish to do so.

This process is common across messaging systems, and delayed delivery failures should occur only rarely. If your practice is experiencing a high number of failed messages, please contact Abtrace Support.