Focus on missed doctors appointments

Tuesday, 24 August 2004 12:00 AM

New research suggests that nearly 13 million medical appointments are missed each year.

The nine million GP appointments missed cost the NHS the equivalent of around £162 million a year, to which has to be added the cost of four million missed practice nurse appointments.

The number of missed appointments is, however, 3.5 million down on last year.

The survey of 707 GP practices, carried out by the Developing Patient Partnerships (DPP) and the Institute of Healthcare Management, found that 72 per cent of doctors believe missed appointments increase waiting times for others.

60 per cent said that missed appointments were a significant problem, with 64 per cent supporting charging patients for missed appointments.

Charging though would be highly controversial. Paul Burstow, the Liberal Democrats health spokesman pointed out that: "It is not just patients who are to blame. All too often appointments are booked to suit the system, not the patient."

Some practices are trailing methods to increase flexibility, including more "open access" sessions for which no appointment is needed.

The DPP are now launching a campaign to urge patients to keep appointments, or cancel them.

Spokesman Dr Terry John, said: "These forgotten millions of missed appointments lead to unavoidable inefficiencies in GP services. It is up to patients to help

"Consistent reinforcement of the 'Keep It Or Cancel It' message is crucial. Particularly as most practices (77 per cent) believe that public awareness campaigns can help combat the problem - which could explain why almost a third of practices (32 per cent) say they have seen a reduction in missed appointments over the last two years. There is no reason why this figure can't climb, especially with the new guidance that highlights simple measures that practices can take to address the problem."

16-34 year olds are most likely to repeatedly miss appointments, with the highest attendance rate in the 55 plus age groups.

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