Kentish Express Ashford & District
High cost of hospital time wasters
the number of patients who had multiple appointments cancelled by the hospital during the same period, which stands at 22,175.
However, the 46,202 people who failed to inform the William Harvey they could not attend made up just 5.4% of the 857,828 who were given appointments, while a more concerning 13.3% of appointments were cancelled by the hospital between 2011 and the early part of this year.
The East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust was unable to say exactly how much money the no-shows cost the taxpayer as that information is not recorded.
But using national figures from NHS England, which reveal missed outpatient appointments cost an average £108 per appointment in 2012/13, the trust estimated people who failed to turn up wasted almost £2 million last year.
Figures show patients snubbed every one of the hospital’s departments at least once during the 36-month period.
The good news is that despite more appointments being booked at the William Harvey each year, the percentage of now-shows seems to be decreasing.
In 2011/12, 6% of the 240,314 patients given appointments failed to show up, whereas the following year the figure was 5.5% of 263,221.
In 2013/14 that figure dropped again, to 4.9% of 354,293, thanks in part to new ways of cancelling appointments.
Trust spokesman Matt Hogg said: “Missed hospital appointments can cause serious delays in treating other patients. Cancelling your appointment means we can reallocate that appointment to someone else, which next time could be you.
“We have seen a significant drop in the proportion of patients failing to attend an appointment following the introduction of telephone booking and text message reminders for outpatient appointments. We regularly ask patients for their mobile phone number to enable us to send out reminders the week before their appointment.” The Friends of William Harvey Hospital revealed this week that £187,000 will be spent on equipment for the Ashford hospital.
The figures show what the wasted £5.4 million could have been spent on:
69 fibroscan machines for examining patients’ livers at a cost of £77,750 each
3,646 machines to measure blood pressure at a cost of £1,481 each
3,935 standing aids to assist mobility at a cost of £1,372 each
548 chest compression devices to restart patients’ hearts at a cost of £9,840 each
64 ophthalmic lasers to tackle eye disease at a cost of £83,500 each.
The Friends of William Harvey Hospital raise funds to buy equipment for use solely for the Ashford hospital. See www. friendsofthewilliamharvey hospital.co.uk for more.