As many as 5% of practice appointments are missed annually in England, according to new figures.
The cost to the NHS of appointments missed without cancellation is more than £216 million, according to NHS England sources.
The figures were released after a leading Scottish GP courted controversy last week by going on social media after five patients failed to show up for her surgery on Christmas Eve.
Quoting the latest figures from NHS Digital, NHS England said some 15 million GP practice appointments are now missed annually. About half of these are GP appointments.
Its acting director for primary care, Dr Nikki Kanani said: “Patients can do their part by letting the NHS know if they can’t make their slot – freeing up doctors, nurses and other professionals to see those who do need care and attention.
“This is particularly important as we go into winter.”
Royal College of GPs chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said: “There may be many reasons why a patient might miss an appointment, and in some cases it can be an indication that something serious is going on for that individual – but we would urge patients to let us know if they can’t attend as soon as possible, so that we can offer that time to someone else who really needs it.”
January 2, 2019 at 10:57 am
We’ll never resolve this unless we can charge patients (even a nominal amount) for a missed appt. I doubt though that this will ever happen.
We’ve started text reminders for appts and we’ll see if this helps, but still have DNAs when the appt is on the same day it was booked so Lord only knows what the answer is!!
January 2, 2019 at 10:20 pm
The only way is to charge, service is free, DNA’s take care away from people who also need help.