Purpose

More than 100 appointments per month are ‘Did Not Attend’ (DNA), i.e. the patient does not turn up for the appointment and does not contact the surgery in advance to cancel/change the appointment.

Dr Ahmed & Dr Mansoor’s Surgery is committed to ensuring that the best possible service is provided to all patients registered with the practice.

Patient non-attendance at a booked appointment adversely impacts on practice staff and its patients in the following manner:

• The `Did Not Attend’ (DNA) patient takes the appointment slot of another patient who could have attended. The effect of this is an increase in the waiting time for appointments.
• The time and personnel required to follow-up and rebook DNA patients diverts practice staff from other duties and is therefore a waste of resources.

Consistent application of the DNA policy by all practice staff (clinical and non-clinical) plays an important role in encouraging patients to assist in ensuring that clinics are managed as efficiently as possible. The policy below relates the handling of DNA’s and outlines the expectations of patients and staff in the management of these instances.

Policy

Every time a patient fails to attend a pre-booked appointment, a formal warning letter will be sent to the patient advising them that they need to cancel their appointments if they cannot attend, and that further occurrences could risk removal from the practice.

If the patient fails to attend/cancel 3 appointments in the space of 12 months, they (and any dependants at the same address) will be removed from the practice list.

If a patient has been removed from the practice due to DNA’s, they will be able to re-register after a period of 24 months. However, a further DNA will resort in the patient being removed permanently.