Hundreds failing to turn up at hospital
Friday 20th November 2009, 11:47AM GMT.
Hundreds of patients failed to keep appointments at Oswestry’s orthopaedic hospital last month causing thousands of pounds of unnecessary expenditure, it has emerged.
Bosses at the Gobowen-based hospital today called on patients to keep their appointments.
Tim Craig, of Whittington, who has been waiting six weeks for treatment to his damaged shoulder, said he had been told by hospital staff that there had been more than 200 no-shows and cancellations in October.
He said: “I have been waiting six weeks for an appointment, which in fairness I was advised is the norm as they are so very busy. I called yesterday to see how the waiting list was looking and the person I spoke to admitted that there was a very high demand.
“She went on to say this was frustrating because last month they had 200 no-shows/cancellations.”
John Grinnell, finance director at the orthopaedic hospital, said: “On average over 250 patients do not attend their outpatient appointment each month, which is about six per cent of our patients.
“Whilst these are lower levels than at many other NHS hospital trusts, these non-attendances do cause operational problems and means that the trust does not get paid for the unused slots. The trust is doing what it can to reduce levels of non-attendance.”
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Why not join the 21 century? Send text reminders to patients. It’s cheap and simple to do, with the right software.
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Dentists charge £10 for missed appointments, perhaps the hospitals and GPs should do the same, people wouldn’t be so careless if it cost money.
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How many of these fail to attend are actually because of double appointments being issued to see the same doctor for the same problem. Example, my daughter has been attending this hospital for months now and every time she is given an appointment to attend, she also receives an appointment to go to Wolverhampton to see the same doctor about the same health issue. Some of these are without a doubt down to poor hospital administration and the consultant saying “choose one appointment and ignore the other”
Its not all down to the patient(s).
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Matt
Not a bad idea but they can’t all have just ‘forgotten’. Maybe unable to attend due to unforseen circs but in that case call and free up the appointment for someone else. or call to apologise after
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I AGREE – A TEXT REMINDER SERVICE WOULD BE PRUDENT
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I was refered by my doctor to see a specialist at the Orthopaedic.I received a comformation letter telling me the date i needed to be there, A few day’s later i received another letter cancelling my appointment and that i would be contacted to inform me of my new appointment date….that was about two month’s ago, so last week i rang them to find out what was happening. To my surprise i was told that i had missed my appointment and that i would have to see my Doctor again for him to arrange another appointment…!!!! “Maybe the Hospital’s should find more competent admin staff…????
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