North Dorset GP and Deputy Chair of the Dorset General Practice Alliance Dr Simone Yule is thanking patients who take the time to communicate with the practice when they cannot attend appointments: ‘‘We want to thank the patients who let us know when they no longer need an appointment. This is a busy time for general practice, and these patients are freeing up vital clinician time that we can reallocate to other people who need it.
“We know that our phone lines can be busy, and we are starting to provide more online solutions for more effective and efficient communication. This also has a positive impact for those who cannot access an online option by freeing up phone lines for those that need to use them. It’s never too late to tell us if you can’t attend an appointment.”
In Dorset last month, there were around 12,000 appointments in general practice where the patient did not attend an appointment. This is 3000 hours of valuable time with a health care professional that was not used.
“We recognise that people have commitments and situations can change” comments Dr Ben Sharland, GP partner in Bournemouth and Deputy Chair of Dorset General Practice.
“We want to understand the reason why people might be missing their appointments and how we can help with this.
“We are concerned that people might be missing appointments and leaving themselves with medial problems that are not being diagnosed or treated in a timely way. We know that the sooner people seek help the better the outcomes.”
National research looking at why appointments are missed, published by the British Medical Journal, found that the most common reasons are forgetting appointments, difficulty cancelling appointments, inconvenient appointment time, being too ill to attend, or no longer needing appointments due to resolved health issues.
Public Health Dorset are planning on looking at this data and working with communities to find out more about the reasons behind why people are missing appointments in Dorset and how to tackle it.
Paul Iggulden, Public Health Dorset Consultant said: “The ‘we did not ask, but we are now’ project, funded by NHS Charities Together, is taking a fresh approach in the way that it tackles the issue of missed appointments.
“By asking people what barriers they face to accessing healthcare, we can develop targeted solutions that help people in our communities get the care they need. This will not only reduce the number of missed appointments across Dorset but will also help to reduce health inequalities.”
If you have an appointment at your practice that you cannot attend, visit your GP website for information on how to cancel. Alternatively, phone or visit the practice. Some practices offer a texting service to cancel, although each surgery will vary.
