Missed GP appointments are costing the NHS ‘millions’
12.6 million GP appointments are missed a year, leading to increased waiting times for patients, according to the Doctor-Patient Partnership.
That costs the NHS an estimated £250m in time lost by doctors who should be seeing patients, but who are often left with little to do while waiting for people who never show up.
The DPP conducted a survey in conjunction with the Institute for Healthcare Management, which suggested that more than two-thirds of GP practices would support fines for patients who failed to turn up.
But commenting on the situation, Dr. Simon Fradd, Chairman, DPP said: “Before resorting to this I would like to see the NHS investing in potential solutions such as the patient reminder system.”
“Everyone forgets things on occasion and it can sometimes be difficult to get through to your practice to cancel your appointment. GP practices recognise this, which is why over 80% of them said they would welcome software in their surgeries to remind patients about their appointments and allow them to cancel them.”
Suggested solutions include automated reminder systems through text messaging or phone calls, and better publicity to drive the message home that it is good practice to cancel an appointment if you can’t make it or no longer need it.
Some GPs also provide ‘open’ surgeries when patients can simply turn up and wait to see the doctor without an appointment, providing a same-day service rather like the systems which operated in accident and emergency departments.
The fact that the equivalent of 1,200 full-time GPs are lost to the NHS because of the number of missed appointments highlights the difficulties that doctors are facing in providing a good service.
And this is backed up by the latest figures on GP performance show that doctors in a third of primary care trusts failed to meet the Government target of seeing patients within two working days of them seeking an appointment.
