Thu, 23 Aug 2007
Public and practices unite against missed appointments
Almost 13.5 million GP appointments and nearly 6.5 million practice nurse appointments are missed a year according to the latest research released today (23 August 2007) by DPP: Developing Patient Partnerships. An overwhelming 97% of practices in our survey agree that missed appointments are a massive waste of NHS resources.Such an enormous waste of NHS resources has united GP practices and the public in their support for striking off patients who regularly miss their appointments (72% and 41% respectively).
DPP Chairman and GP in Carnforth, Lancashire, Dr David Wrigley says: “In our view striking patients off really is the last resort - but what is clear from this is the level of frustration felt by GP practices and clearly the public don’t look too kindly on people missing appointments either. It’s by no means a ‘them and us’ situation. DPP had fiercely campaigned over the years to raise awareness of the impact of missed appointments and it looks like the public now realise that it’s them who bear the brunt. Most practices agree (89%) that missed appointments increase waiting times for other patients.
“The survey results do show that 54% of the public believe that difficulty getting through on the telephone to cancel appointments is also a cause of missed appointments a fact which is worth practices bearing in mind.”
Nearly two thirds (65%) of the public and many practices surveyed (68%) would also support charging people £10 or less for missing their appointment.
Other survey findings show that the public and health professionals also agree (77% and 46% respectively) that people ‘forgetting’ is the major cause of missed appointments which is why DPP, as part of it’s annual ‘Keep it or cancel it’ campaign, has issued reminder postcards for practices to give to patients when booking their appointment. The postcard also urges people to check with their employer that it is convenient to get time off for their appointment.
For further information or to book an interview, please contact:
Pamela Prentice, 020 7383 6144, pprentice@bma.org.uk or Justina Heslop, 0207383 6780, jheslop@bma.org.uk.
Notes for editors
- ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1013 adults aged 18+ by telephone between 11th July and 12th July 2007. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Further information at www.icmresearch.co.uk
- The DPP survey was conducted with 557 GP surgeries throughout the UK in July 2007.
- DPP: Developing Patient Partnerships (formerly Doctor Patient Partnership) is a health education charity working with primary care organisations, businesses and the public. For more information see www.dpp.org.uk and www.dpphealthatwork.org.uk.
- £21 per GP appointment L. Curtis, A. Netten (2006) Unit Costs of Health and Social Care 2006. http://www.pssru.ac.uk/pdf/uc/uc2006/uc2006.pdf
UK stats