Missed appointments are common phenomena in practices worldwide. In healthcare set up, adherence to appointments and medication is quite crucial especially for chronic illnesses. Regular clinic visits enable patients to benefit from continuous education on secondary prevention, counselling and other ancillary services. Various studies have shown that the use of automated text message reminder system can be used to reduce non adherence to medical appointment. The general objective of this study was to examine existing appointment reminders for Ampath Centre of Moi teaching and Referral Hospital Eldoret, Kenya. A cross-sectional study was done at Ampath Centre of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret-Kenya, from May to July, 2019. Information on the use of automated text message reminder system was obtained from 10 members of staff and 412 patients seeking HIV services in the hospital. Data analysis was done and the results were presented in frequency tables and graphs. The study findings showed that majority of the patients (98%) preferred the utilization of automated text messaging reminder mechanism for patient appointment. Most member of staff agreed that their skills and ICT infrastructure would support an automated text messaging appointment reminder system. The outcomes of this study further showed that majority of the respondents 295(71.43%) reported that they use appointment card to remind them of their clinic date, 91(22.03%) use phone call, 25(6.05%) use pill count and only 2 (0.48%) use calendars as a reminder of appointment date.

Keywords : Appointment, Adherence, Chronic.