missed hospital appointments

[jaysay]

Any one see that news item about missed hospital appointments. It appears that missed appointments are costing the NHS £300 million a year, or around £150 a time, £13 million in Liverpool and £9.5 million in Preston were to that were quoted. I have been attending hospital for over 25 years and can honestly say I have never missed one appoinment, except when I have been an in patient on the said day, its so easy to pick up a phone and cancel if something unforeseen crops up. After all in this area you get a reminder 10 days before the due date, so there is no excuse for not turning up or cancelling

[lettie]

Those figures don't surprise me in the slightest. The amount of people who fail to attend antenatal appointments is astounding. Not only could their appointment have been used by someone else but the midwife then has to chase these people up (a statutory duty).

On the general side they've given up the chase. If you miss an appointment without cancelling and re-scheduling, you are not sent another. If you need another appointment you then have to go back to your GP and to the back of the waiting list.

[Gayle]

I was sat in the Doctors waiting room today and there was a notice up saying 82 missed Doctors appointments and 47 missed Nurse appointments this month. That's about 4 missed appointments a day. Given the fact that it's really hard to get an appointment then it's extremely frustrating that people book them and don't turn up - why bother?

[Margaret Pilkington]

I used to manage the Gynae Pre-op Assessment Clinic....if patients failed to attend this clinic then they didn't come in for their op........but I used to phone women and ask them why they had not turned up for their appointment...sometimes it was because they had moved house...or they had not had their letter to come to the clinic. Very often I would make alternative arrangements for them to come up and get their appointment...sometimes even doing their pre-op assessment on the ward.

Women do have very busy lives and although that does not excuse them from missing appointments.....I felt that anything that I could do to make it easier to attend and get our'failed to attend' figures down was worth the effort. I always encouraged the staff that worked with me to do the same.
Our clinic ran from lunchtime until 9pm at night...just so that women didn't have to miss time at work.

[SPUGGIE J]

Originally Posted by Gayle

I was sat in the Doctors waiting room today and there was a notice up saying 82 missed Doctors appointments and 47 missed Nurse appointments this month. That's about 4 missed appointments a day. Given the fact that it's really hard to get an appointment then it's extremely frustrating that people book them and don't turn up - why bother?

My doctors practice had the same problem and their answer was to have patients phone in and try and give them an appointment for that day. Ok its a pain in the butt to do this but it reduced missed appointments by nearly 70%. If an appointment is for as soon as possible people are less likely to miss them.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Any one see that news item about missed hospital appointments. It appears that missed appointments are costing the NHS £300 million a year, or around £150 a time, £13 million in Liverpool and £9.5 million in Preston were to that were quoted. I have been attending hospital for over 25 years and can honestly say I have never missed one appoinment, except when I have been an in patient on the said day, its so easy to pick up a phone and cancel if something unforeseen crops up. After all in this area you get a reminder 10 days before the due date, so there is no excuse for not turning up or cancelling

must be great to be marvellous? i have had many appointments/referalls in the last 5 years or so and i always write it in my diary,put it on the calendar, unfortunately i do not always recieve my mail i have attended every one bar ONE, and that was because my memory is not what it was, which annoys the hell out of me, cos i used to have a brilliant memory, i phoned up at the end of the day i missed and apologised etc and they understood which is more than the sanctamonious buggers like you do.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Not true Cashman.....I understand that things get in the way of appointments and would phone the ladies and ask them thier reason for non attendance and try to give them another appointment, often to fit in with their busy lives.

[Retlaw]

That sounds like a load of barnyard confetti, if that statement were true why do we have to wait for two hours to see the quacks, then just before its your turn the waiting time is posted as three hours.

Sounds like some more labour spin.

[West Ender]

I suppose it has got better in this area, hospital appointments I mean, but I would have said, a few years ago, that the hospital would be glad if a few appointments were "missed". I remember taking my daughter and grandson to hospital for a check-up in 1987, when Peter was 2, as he had a slight heart murmer (now completely gone) after a difficult birth. The appointment was for 10.30 a.m. We arrived to find a packed waiting room and discovered that everyone else also had an appointment at 10.30. He was seen at 12.15.

It used to be the norm, hanging around hospital wating rooms, except in the days when I could afford BUPA (can't now, they wanted gold bullion once I attained 60 years of age). Nowadays it's much better and, the twice I've been in the last 3 years, I've been seen almost to the minute. The thing is, though, I could hardly forget the appointments because I only go to the hospital if there's a problem. Once it was for an X-ray on my dodgy back (yep, arthritis) and once for a hearing test (yep, deaf as a post in one ear). At my GP's surgery I go every 6 months for blood-pressure checks and blood tests so I make the appointments about a week beforehand. If it's something more acute (very rare) I get there a.s.a.p. and I'm hardly likely to forget if, for instance, I'm coughing for England.

It makes me wonder why, exactly, these people are seeing their GP/being referred to hospital. I don't mean people with long-term problems like you, Cashman, but the one-offs who just don't turn up.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by cashman

must be great to be marvellous? i have had many appointments/referalls in the last 5 years or so and i always write it in my diary,put it on the calendar, unfortunately i do not always recieve my mail i have attended every one bar ONE, and that was because my memory is not what it was, which annoys the hell out of me, cos i used to have a brilliant memory, i phoned up at the end of the day i missed and apologised etc and they understood which is more than the sanctamonious buggers like you do.

If its your health in question then its in your own best interests to keep appointments, If you don't look after your own interests then why should any one else

[cashman]

Originally Posted by jaysay

If its your health in question then its in your own best interests to keep appointments, If you don't look after your own interests then why should any one else

dont expect anyone else to i forget many things an flight to new york was one i forgot to set the clock for. wouldnt expect a prat to understand.

[SPUGGIE J]

Originally Posted by jaysay

If its your health in question then its in your own best interests to keep appointments, If you don't look after your own interests then why should any one else

Sometimes it not possible to remember everything if it was I would be living a great life. No one is perfect regardless of what they think. Are you saying you have never been late or missed an appointment?

[Madhatter]

Originally Posted by Gayle

I was sat in the Doctors waiting room today and there was a notice up saying 82 missed Doctors appointments and 47 missed Nurse appointments this month. That's about 4 missed appointments a day. Given the fact that it's really hard to get an appointment then it's extremely frustrating that people book them and don't turn up - why bother?

Answer to this is simple.
Because it's so hard, people who have variable job hours such as me, I don't know which days I will be working, End up taking whatever appointments we can in the hope that we won't be working.
For example I know mondays are quiet, if I can get a monday appointment then great, I can book the day off as there's a good chance I won't work anyway. If I can only get a friday appointment there's a strong chance that I will be working. say I don't work monday, but work comes in on the friday . Do I keep the Appointment knowing I've already lost a day and could lose the contract for not taking the work and therefore make myself unemployed, or do I work.
Luckily I don't get ill much, but I've been trying to get to see the doc about my neck for two months now. Open surgery is a no no, it full of hypocondriacs that ljust go to read the magazines and have a chat with someone. there are no appointments when I want one cos of the hypercondriacs.

[those were the days]

Not all departments seem to send reminders. I had an appointment that i made after seeing the consultant i had to return in a year for a yearly review, bloods etc.. about six months later i contacted the secretary to say i had misplaed my blood request envelope thing and could they send me another, they never did, and i never got a reminder for my appointment, then with all pressure of exams etc. the yearly routine thing went out of my mind, i rang to check the date of my appointment and was told it was the previous week. she was very nice and understanding and i felt really guilty. But sometimes things do happen, life overtakes and things get forgot.

[accymel]

I cant see the problem of ringing to cancel if you cant make it, my son has regular out patient appointments & we not missed one cos theres such a wait to get one but usually its the hospital that cancels the appointments & re-schedules them generally 2-3 times by time we actually get to see them.