Introduction
Approximately 120 appointments per month are did not attend (DNA), i.e. the patient does not turn up for the appointment or is late and does not contact the surgery in advance to cancel/change appointment. The effects of these are:
- An increase in the waiting time for appointments.
- Frustration for both staff and patients.
- A waste of resources.
Policy
If patient does not attend his or her first appointment without cancelling they may be phoned and verbally warned. If patients cancel and do not give at least 1 hour notice it will be counted as a non attendance.
If a patient fails to attend their first pre-booked appointment, a first informal warning letter will be sent to the patient advising them that a further occurrence could risk removal from the practice.
If the patient fails to attend two further appointments, the matter will be discussed with the principal doctors as to whether the patient will be removed from the practice list, in which case a final removal letter will be issued.
Warning letters are valid for a period of 12 months. Removal based on warnings greater than 12 months old will be invalid, in this case a further formal warning and period of grace will be required.