Missed appointments in the NHS

[davyboy]

My wife and I have just returned from our local hospital where she underwent a computerised X-ray scan of her colon.

A notice in reception stated that in March 2017 there were 251 no shows wasting 502 hours of consultant/doctor's time with a total overall cost of £150,000.

FOR ONE MONTH

I assume this was for the whole hospital and not the endoscopy dept.

My wife had to wait six weeks from referall for this appointment.

Multiply this across the whole NHS and you can see what a terrible waste of money this cost the taxpayer without of course the inconvenience and worry to patients that have to wait longer than necessary to be seen.

If you miss or change the appointment twice then you are referred back to the doctor that asked for the procedure.

Evidently this is no discouragement to the patients that can't be bothered to phone to cancel their appointment.

What more can be done???

We have nothing but praise for the staff.

Edited April 18, 2017 by davyboy

[onewheeldave]

My wife and I have just returned from our local hospital where she underwent a computerised X-ray scan of her colon.

A notice in reception stated that in March 2017 there were 251 no shows wasting 502 hours of consultant/doctor's time with a total overall cost of £150,000.

251 no shows out of a total of how many? (How many did turn up).

[silentP]

Definitely one

[El Cid]

A notice in reception stated that in March 2017 there were 251 no shows wasting 502 hours of consultant/doctor's time with a total overall cost of £150,000.

FOR ONE MONTH

 

They just factor in a certain amount of no shows; the no shows could be down to the person becoming ill. double booking, or a failure of the cancellation telephone message not being passed on.

I recently had a text message reminder for my appointment, but no facility to reply.

Threads usually end up blaming things on those in society that dont give a fig.

[muddycoffee]

A lot of this could be down to elderly people who's transport didn't turn up in time. I seriously doubt that someone with this kind of problem would miss a screening appointment on purpose.

 

But that information was not available to you so it might be wiser to not jump to accusations.

[onewheeldave]

A lot of this could be down to elderly people who's transport didn't turn up in time. I seriously doubt that someone with this kind of problem would miss a screening appointment on purpose.

 

But that information was not available to you so it might be wiser to not jump to accusations.

A lot of this is a consequence of the NHS's own abysmal admin systems.

 

I know when my Dad was dying of cancer, the NHS medicars often went to the wrong address, leading to him being late, or missing appointments through no fault of his own.

 

Due to his condition he'd taken, towards the end, to staying at his partners bungalow, as his house had stairs he couldn't deal with.

 

Despite him, and me, informing the NHS, on multiple occasions, that he was now living at his partners house, the admin system couldn't seem to deal with a simple address change and so the medicars continued to turn up at the wrong address.

 

It's a real shame that a health service full of well-meaning, hard working, doctors, nurses and other medical staff, is led down so very badly by an atrocious admin/record system.

[muddycoffee]

.....

Despite him, and me, informing the NHS, on multiple occasions, that he was now living at his partners house, the admin system couldn't seem to deal with a simple address change and so the medicars continued to turn up at the wrong address.

 

It's a real shame that a health service full of well-meaning, hard working, doctors, nurses and other medical staff, is led down so very badly by an atrocious admin/record system.

 

Well interestingly many of the admin staff are also hard working dedicated people. It is just that because people complain of "employing middle managers and bean-counters" there are not enough of them and those that do the job are often overwhelmed by workload.

[Duckegg]

Thank you onewheeldave.

 

As one of the "ineffective" admin staff I'm faced with a heap of red tape and crap systems but still try to get the best care for patients. Many patients don't bother to turn up, wasting valuable clinic slots for very ill people. A lot of these insist on translators for a variety of obscure languages and STILL don't turn up; payment still has to be made to the translator and the clinic slot is wasted time and money.

 

There is a huge demand for Medicars and ambulances to bring people to appointments etc. People are taking the michael. Whilst there are many genuine cases, what happened to family and friends?

 

Don't get me started.

[Puggie]

Evidently this is no discouragement to the patients that can't be bothered to phone to cancel their appointment.

What more can be done???

 

Did you get any reminders?

 

When I lived in another part of the UK I got an SMS reminder a few days before my appointment, followed by an automated phone call 24 hours before the appointment. Needlesss to say I didn't forget!

 

The wonders of technology

[onewheeldave]

Well interestingly many of the admin staff are also hard working dedicated people.

 

I know- I've not said otherwise.

 

Thank you onewheeldave.

 

As one of the "ineffective" admin staff I'm faced with a heap of red tape and crap systems but still try to get the best care for patients

I've not said admin staff are 'ineffective'.

 

What I said was-

 

A lot of this is a consequence of the NHS's own abysmal admin systems.

It's a real shame that a health service full of well-meaning, hard working, doctors, nurses and other medical staff, is led down so very badly by an atrocious admin/record system.

 

---------- Post added 18-04-2017 at 21:53 ----------

 

Many patients don't bother to turn up, wasting valuable clinic slots for very ill people.

 

And some, as I said above, like my terminally ill Dad, don't 'turn up' because their arranged medicar goes to the wrong address, because of the NHS's abysmal admin system.

 

---------- Post added 18-04-2017 at 21:54 ----------

 

There is a huge demand for Medicars and ambulances to bring people to appointments etc. People are taking the michael. Whilst there are many genuine cases, what happened to family and friends?

 

A lot of people do not have family and friends who can drive them to appointments.