Panara does not act as a middleman when it comes to sending SMS messages. The program simply facilitates the sending of SMS messages from accounts that users independently set up with an SMS Gateway company. We support 2 such gateways in the program (Kapow and Clickatell.)

So the cost of an SMS recall or appointment reminder is the cost the gateway charges for a text message with nothing added.

Yesterday I received an email from Clickatell advising of new pricing for messages sent to irish mobiles

Below I have reproduced the same information taken from their website

At 2.08 cent per message (about 2.5 after VAT) I think this must be the cheapest available.

As of the update (2.2.6) released today you can now swipe the information on the back of Medical cards directly into a patient’s record in Panara.

Incorrect manual entry, of medical card numbers in particular, can thus be avoided.

The information that’s stored in the magnetic strip is first name, surname, medical card number and expiry date.

Disappointingly, PPS numbers are not stored in the magnetic strip, even when the actual PPS number is printed on the front of the card.

After swiping, if the information differs from that stored for the patient, you are shown a comparison of the various bits side by side along with options to select none, some or all.

Magnetic card readers vary widely in price, this one is reasonably priced and was delivered within about a week. Installation simply involves plugging into a USB slot.

A new page has been added to the site today to provide links to what will, hopefully, grow over time into a long list of how-to videos.

The aim is to add about one a week.

The choice of subject will be partly based on what I think needs illustrating and partly in response to queries from users on how to accomplish various tasks in the program.

The first video is about Lists and is in response to a query I received last week on how to send marketing SMS messages to patients.