Thank you for seeing your doctor

Patients who fail to turn up for their GP’s appointment, and don’t ring to cancel, are costing the NHS in Stockport up to £1.3 million.

It’s estimated that around 65,000 appointments are missed every year in Stockport and these appointments are wasted because they can’t be offered to other patients.

Known in the health service as DNAs – Did Not Attend – they are wasted because by the time the surgery knows for certain that the patient isn’t turning up, it’s too late to offer it to others who’ve been unable to get an appointment.

In Stockport, the statistics show that an average sized practice wastes around 1,400 appointments each year – this is equivalent to the practice closing its doors for nearly three weeks.

Doctors recognise that often the patient will have a good reason for not attending and has either forgotten to cancel the appointment or has tried to cancel but has not been able to get through in time.

But now with practices putting in place different ways of cancelling appointments, not just via ringing up, it’s hoped that the number of DNAs will begin to drop.

Dr James Higgins, a GP in Brinnington, said “At a time when the NHS is having to find ways to save money to keep services going, we can ill afford this waste.

“But for us it’s not really about the financial cost, but rather the opportunity cost to the NHS – we’re not able to offer these appointments to others. As a consequence our patients have to wait longer to see their GP and this could potentially put them at risk. ‘We need patients to understand this and work with their practice to ensure that they don’t miss their appointments in future.”

Now Stockport’s GP are putting their weight behind a campaign to persuade patients not to be a DNA statistic.

Posters will be going up in all practices thanking patients who regularly turn up for their appointments and reminding those who sometimes miss their appointment of the impact it has and giving them ways to reduce their chances of forgetting in the future.