If you are unable to attend an appointment it is vital you contact the surgery to cancel the appointment to make it available for another patient.
It can sometimes be difficult to a get a routine appointment with a GP or Nurse within a certain time frame. Where such demand is unpredictable, this cannot easily be remedied. One thing that makes this even more difficult to overcome is the problem of missed appointments – DNAs.
The cost in time and money is a burden to the National Health Service generally and the Practice cannot sustain this.
Remember that your DNA is another patient’s denied appointment.
A DNA occurs when an appointment is not attended, and the patient has not contacted the Practice in advance to cancel it or where the cancellation is so late as to make it impossible to allocate that time to another patient who needs treatment.
The Practice will code this DNA and this will prompt a retrospective check on the number of DNAs recorded against that person. As such, the following applies:
1st DNA
Where this is the first occasion, a code will be added to the patient’s medical records, and the patient will be contacted by text message / letter to inform of missed appointment.
2nd DNA
Where this is the second occasion, the patient will be contacted by the Practice via letter, advised of their second missed appointment and informed that if a further appointment is DNA’d they could be at risk of compromising their relationship with the Practice.
3rd DNA
Where a third DNA has occurred, the Practice will review the individual case. The Practice will consider whether consistent failure to adhere to our Practice policy constitutes a breakdown between the patient and the GP (where the GP Practice has given clear instruction on policy and service provision and the patient has chosen to disregard this on several occasions despite due warning). This ultimately could result in you being removed from the Practice List and you will need to register with an alternative Surgery.
It should be noted that, whilst unacceptable in most cases, there may be extenuating circumstances as to why the patient has failed to attend their appointment. Therefore, prior to any correspondence being sent to a patient, missed appointments will be looked into to determine the reason of non- attendance.
Any correspondence sent to patients relating to DNA’s are only valid for a 12-month period. All correspondence will be saved in each patient’s electronic health records.
By reducing the number of DNAs, the Practice will:
- Enhance the efficiency of clinical sessions.
- Reduce costs.
- Increase productivity.
- Offer a more effective service to patients.
- Enable more effective booking of slots.
How to Avoid Becoming a DNA
If you cannot attend or no longer need an appointment, please ring us in advance – ideally 24 hours before the scheduled appointment.
Mistakes do happen and the Practice understand that appointments can be forgotten about or overlooked. However, each patient receives a text message reminder 24 hours before the appointment. If you are not receiving these please check with Reception to make sure we have the correct contact details for you.
You can cancel appointments by leaving a voicemail message by telephone at any time on 01253 626637 select option 2. Please give your name, date of birth, the appointment date and time and who it is with.
Alternatively, you can speak with our Reception team during opening hours on 01253 626637 select option 1.
