PATIENTS missed more than 34,000 NHS hospital appointments last year, according to new statistics.
The figures show 34,613 inpatients and outpatients under the care of the Bromley Primary Care Trust missed appointments at the borough's hospitals in the 12 months to March this year.
This is an average of 94 missed appointments each day.
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The figures were revealed by health minister Ben Bradshaw in an answer to a Parliamentary question by Labour MP Stephen Byers.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "People have a responsibility to keep their appointments or cancel them in good time.
"Providing reliable access to NHS services and encouraging patients to use the NHS sensibly and responsibly is important in reducing the number of missed appointments."
They added: "We want to make it easier for people to be able to cancel appointments by improving practice telephone systems and encouraging the use of SMS texts and email."
London-wide, more than 1.1 million hospital appointments were missed.
Posted by: Osem, Orpington on 9:44am Mon 30 Jun 08
These figures are really quite shocking. However, it must be said that over the years and numerous hospital visits I can't recall[bold] ever[/bold] seeing a consultant within about 45 mins of the appointed time (frequently much more!), so I can't help thinking the system would grind to a halt if everyone turned up. Of course all the delays make for lots of additional car parking revenue ......
These figures are really quite shocking. However, it must be said that over the years and numerous hospital visits I can't recall ever seeing a consultant within about 45 mins of the appointed time (frequently much more!), so I can't help thinking the system would grind to a halt if everyone turned up. Of course all the delays make for lots of additional car parking revenue ......
Posted by: Harry Brown, Bromley on 5:06pm Mon 30 Jun 08
I don't really understand how the system works but do they allow a certain amount of time for people to arrive at their appointments? Do they allow 15-30 mins for each person in case they are running late or whatever before they give up on them and move on to seeing the next person on the list? If it works something like this then that would go some way to explaining the delays. The idiots who deliberately fail to attend appointments without letting the hospitals know ought to be ashamed of themselves. They are costing the NHS valuable resources and wasting people's time. If they don't want their appointments then I'm sure there are other people who do.
I don't really understand how the system works but do they allow a certain amount of time for people to arrive at their appointments? Do they allow 15-30 mins for each person in case they are running late or whatever before they give up on them and move on to seeing the next person on the list? If it works something like this then that would go some way to explaining the delays. The idiots who deliberately fail to attend appointments without letting the hospitals know ought to be ashamed of themselves. They are costing the NHS valuable resources and wasting people's time. If they don't want their appointments then I'm sure there are other people who do.
[quote][bold]Harry Brown[/bold] wrote:
I don\'t really understand how the system works but do they allow a certain amount of time for people to arrive at their appointments? Do they allow 15-30 mins for each person in case they are running late or whatever before they give up on them and move on to seeing the next person on the list? If it works something like this then that would go some way to explaining the delays. The idiots who deliberately fail to attend appointments without letting the hospitals know ought to be ashamed of themselves. They are costing the NHS valuable resources and wasting people\'s time. If they don\'t want their appointments then I\'m sure there are other people who do.[/quote] I think they work more like airlines which deliberately overbook knowing that a percentage of people will normally fail to appear for one reason or another. Of course deliberately missed appointments are an avoidable burden but at all the clinics we've been to over recent years patients' names are taken on arrival and consultants simply see those who are present in the order of their appointments.
Harry Brown wrote:
I don\'t really understand how the system works but do they allow a certain amount of time for people to arrive at their appointments? Do they allow 15-30 mins for each person in case they are running late or whatever before they give up on them and move on to seeing the next person on the list? If it works something like this then that would go some way to explaining the delays. The idiots who deliberately fail to attend appointments without letting the hospitals know ought to be ashamed of themselves. They are costing the NHS valuable resources and wasting people\'s time. If they don\'t want their appointments then I\'m sure there are other people who do.
I think they work more like airlines which deliberately overbook knowing that a percentage of people will normally fail to appear for one reason or another. Of course deliberately missed appointments are an avoidable burden but at all the clinics we've been to over recent years patients' names are taken on arrival and consultants simply see those who are present in the order of their appointments.
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