Missed Appointments and Punctuality Policy
We all forget to do things, and this can sometimes include attending appointments. Missed appointments however cause disruption to the smooth running of services and are a huge waste of time and money for the practice and the whole NHS.
Where patients have been declined a routine appointment because we are full, it is very frustrating when one or more booked appointments are wasted because the patient didn’t turn and didn’t contact the practice beforehand to cancel.
Remember to Cancel
Our simple request is that if you can’t attend or no longer need your appointment, that you cancel in advance.
If you fail to cancel and don’t turn up for your appointment it will be automatically recorded in your medical records as a ‘DNA – Did Not Attend’.
Similarly, cancelling with less than 1 hours’ notice will be recorded as a DNA. This is because it’s too late for us to offer the appointment to anyone else.
Punctuality
Poor punctuality is as much of a problem as missed appointments. If you’re late we can’t guarantee that you’ll be seen. You might be asked to rearrange your appointment for another day or asked to wait until the end of the session. It depends entirely on our capacity on the day. Your original appointment however will be recorded as a DNA.
If you foresee that you’re going to be late, phone beforehand and then we can advise if you need to rearrange your appointment and so that we can help you avoid a wasted journey.
Monitoring
We regularly monitor missed appointments and we might contact you to ask the reason for the missed appointment. Any patient who has missed 3 appointments in a 12-month period, and/or who have cancelled 3 appointments with less than 1 hours’ notice over a 12-month period, will receive a formal warning letter. A repeated pattern of missed appointments can lead to your removal from our patient list.
How to avoid a DNA
- Make sure that we have your current mobile number so that you’ll receive a text message to remind you of your appointment.
- The receptionists are always on hand to advise and to help cancel or rearrange appointments
- Sign up to online services so that you can arrange and cancel appointments online as convenient for you.
Please remember that your DNA may be someone else’s declined appointment.
