NHS says two ops a day are cancelled due to ‘no shows’

17% of patients miss appointments

New figures have revealed almost two operations every day are cancelled each year in Tayside because patients do not turn up.

In 2016, 3969 out of 34,672 elective and emergency operations were cancelled across NHS Tayside.

A total of 17% of these were because patients failed to turn up. This means 15.5% of cancelled appointments in Tayside over the last 15 years are because patients did not attend their scheduled time slot.

Dr Gavin Main, associate medical director for access at NHS Tayside, said: “We would urge people to contact us as soon as possible if, for any reason, they are unable to attend for surgical procedures or any other hospital appointments.

“This allows us to reduce wasted appointments by giving someone else the original appointment, and rearranging a more suitable date and time for patients.

“Unfortunately we will not always be able to determine why patients do not attend for their appointment. However, to ensure that appointment letters go to the correct patient, people should make sure that they keep their GP up-to-date with their correct phone number and address details.

“There are a number of initiatives NHS Tayside has put in place aiming to reduce the Did Not Attend rate including a greater use of automated text messaging systems to act as a reminder to patients.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government added: “It is every patient’s responsibility to keep their NHS appointment and it is important that they let the hospital know when they cannot attend. However, we also recognise that the NHS has to be flexible in helping make appointments convenient to patients.

“The Scottish Government is committed to supporting health boards to implement policies to reduce missed appointments such as providing reminder services through texts, emails and social media. This will allow reminder services to be tailored for patients who are most likely to not attend.”