Unused hospital appointments

Contact the hospital Trust Appointment Booking Manager Minerva and make a formal complaint. If they're made aware of the errors, they can address them and stop appointments being missed and wasted.

This is just ridiculous - what a mess.

On returning yesterday, Wednesday, from accompanying my daughter and grandson to his hospital appointment late afternoon, I found a letter had been delivered in my absence to tell me of an appointment for yesterday mid afternoon. It came two days after a letter telling me the appointment has been moved to tomorrow, Friday.

I frequently receive two identical letters but last month I had a letter telling me that a February appointment had been moved to March and another letter by the same post saying that it had been moved to July. Sadly the July appointment was the correct one.

Went out last night to friends' and 2 of them were doctors, 1 young man qualified last year and now in a local A&E, and another an experienced GP.

They were amazed at the number of DNAs in the UK- as they can count the number of DNAs they had last year on the fingers of one hand. The NHS is/was the best healthcare system in the whole wide world - but tragically, a system which is totally free seems to lead to lack of respect by a small but significant % - no awareness of the cost of treatment or drugs, and staff, procedures, etc.

Well, thinking back to the 70s, I remember junior doctors on strike, long waits for operations (15 months in DH's case).

1980s paying for urgently needed tonsillectomies because the NHS said DH and later DD's were not bad enough. The surgeon, in the private sector, who treated DH said he had never in his career seen tonsils in a worse state than DH's. DD was found to have had abscesses in both her tonsils, which were now the cause of her continuous reinfections.

1990s very long waits in A&E but we were all otherwise healthy

2000s, being told I was a bedblocker because I was kept in hospital for 3 days because of delays in performing a minor procedure that should only have required day surgery. Failure of doctors and nurses in A&E to take any notice of me telling them of drug allergies relevant to my treatment.

Yes, I can also talk of superb treatment for DD after accident and the treatment of my father in his last months, but the halcyon days of wine and roses described above? No.

So looking back thirty AND more years,Heath, Thatcher Major(not exactly in the infant stages of the NHS was it ?) when the likes of my self and many others had our ops when expected, cancellations were few, if there were any , and far between Appointments on time and no endless waits in A&E, so what, in your view, has taken place that is now pushing us back and not forward.

I don't know - I remember the mid-1980s as being particularly bad before it improved in the 1990s.

in 1986
- waiting 7 hours in A&E with appendicitis as no bed available
- being put onto a mixed ward - males/females, medical/ surgical/gynae as only bed empty
- 2 toilets and 1 bathroom (bath no shower) for the 26 male and female patients
- having to spend hours in recovery as my ward had no qualified staff to "sign for me" (only 2 students and 1 agency for 26 patients) - eventually night matron had to be called out
- junior doctor falling asleep taking my medical history as he had worked 120 hours that week - not safe

People expect to be charged if they miss a dental appointment- and would find it totally normal at the hairdresser's... but doctor's or hospital appointment 'it's free innit'.

My neighbour would happily pay for a taxi to get to shops or her hairdresser's - but expected hospital transport to get to hosp. appointment. It is sadly true that people often have little respect for anything which is perceived as free.

At Cosafina - too right, things began the downhill slide when Matron was removed.

My sister received a change of appointment letter every day over a 5 day period from somewhere in Bristol. She lives in Derby and has to attend several different clinics following major surgery for cancer. However, these appointments did not relate to any of her previous clinic visits. Her husband phoned the number printed on the letters, but was told that they didn't know why she had been sent the letters either!

I recently had a letter saying “sorry, we can’t see you at 12:30 on 14th Dec, please come at 12:30 instead.” So I turned up at 12:30 which threw them all into confusion as they said they’d been expecting me at 10:30 - until I was able to produce the letter!
I didn’t realise they’d outsourced the appointments system - give it all back to the medical staff, I say. Each hospital needs a strong matron at the helm instead of the current plethora of pen-pushers and middle managers making a mess of things

Many of the problems with appointments are due to shortage of staff due to the NHS cutbacks in recent years. In order to keep the clinical staff, admin staff have been cut to the bone so are quite unable to provide a good service.
Also, hospitals are reliant on GPs providing accurate information and they often do not think to provide a phone number and very rarely email.
I am very glad I no longer work in the NHS.

I am not defending poor service and if there are errors being made then that is yet another case of the NHS failing to utilize it's finding responsibly. However I get very annoyed by the opposite side of the arguement too.

Just before Xmas I attended our surgery and possibly like most surgeries they have a rolling information screen that gives the number of patients that ' failed to attend their appointment' for the month.

198 patients failed to turn up for their appointment in that one smallish surgery alone and it was not because of the service which is very good , we get reminders if you have a phone or mobile of your impending appointment. No doubt money that could be saved if patients took more responsibility . Before anybody points out there could be genuine reasons for not turning up I am told they are not included in the number quoted.

I know somebody who books an appointment through the on line booking service, ' just in case' and they don't give a toss about their attitude.

I work in this sector and so have first hand knowledge of how letters, emails, text messages and voicemail messages are sent out to patients.
It is the hospital who provides the private company with the patient's contact details; the dates and times of the appointments and the clinic or venue that the appointment is at.
It is the hospital who dictates whether the communication is to be made by letter; sms message; email or voicemail.
It is the hospital who decides whether the communication is to be sent to the patient 2 weeks; 1 week; 5 days; 3 days or 1 day before an appointment.
It is the hospital who decides if multiple communications are to be sent out to the patient.
The private companies have no access to the patient's records and can only use the information of patient's name and date of birth when making contact. They are forbidden, under data protection laws, to speak to anyone other than the patient, unless the patient gives their direct consent for a guardian or advocat to speak on their behalf.
If you are not receiving the details of an appointment until after the date of the appointment has passed, or if you're not receiving the communication with enough time to arrange to attend the appointment, you need to contact the hospital's booking appointment manager or, alternatively, PALs, who will investigate why the private company has not received the correct information for you.

Perhaps the least of our worries now.

NHS extends suspension of all non-urgent care as doctors warn of winter crisis

Emergency panel says an increase in patients suffering from flu and respiratory illnesses was partly to blame for the move

Must be the EUs fault

The last part of my mums life was a series of missed appointments that we had never been notified of. This was at the pain clinic, which has around a 4-6 month wait for appointments anyway. I couldn't get my mum there in the end, as she was no longer able to weight bear. I feel very much that she would have a better quality of life, and a longer one if the ruddy admin side of the nhs was better.

Yes, I do think people who miss appointments should be penalised. I am not sure fining them is a good idea given that many patients are old or indigent. Usually the poorer you are, the worse your health and for some there will be reasons for not attending without notice - not being informed of the appointment, last minute transport failure - buses that run late or are cancelled, hospital transport that doesn't turn up.

This new system sounds dreadful and wasteful.

However it is a fact that 1000s of appointments a day, be it at the GPs, outpatient clinics, or even OPERATIONS - are missed by people who give no notice despite reminders- taking someone else's place and costing 100s of 1000s tothe NHS. When I went for a knee op a just before we moved- 2 or 3 out of a list of 10 had not turned up at all. When you think of waiting lists- that is shockingly shameful. Theatre, surgeons, anesthetist, radiographers, nurses, assistants, etc, etc - all wasted.

This just does not happen in most countries- as they would be billed for the cost- 100s, 1000s even- and pursued through the courts, etc.

DD, four years through a five year course of treatment following an accident, got signed off for failing to attend an appointment she hadn't been informed of. She was told to go back to her GP get a referral and she would probably be seen in three months time.

She kicked up a fuss, and so did her consultant and they reinstated her. Supposing she had lacked the confidence to do this and had not had a consultant with attitude?

The privatisation of the NHS has been going on far longer than most people realise. I've been retired for 12 yrs and the privatisation of the Patient Transport Ambulance service had already started and put many of my colleagues in the position of accepting being Tupe'ed over to the private company who were taking over or leave the ambulance service, a lot left. Such a shame they doing this via the back door I don't know how it's just being allowed to happen.

Patticake123
So looking back thirty AND more years,Heath, Thatcher Major(not exactly in the infant stages of the NHS was it ?) when the likes of my self and many others had our ops when expected, cancellations were few, if there were any , and far between
Appointments on time and no endless waits in A&E, so what, in your view, has taken place that is now pushing us back and not forward.
EU / no longer the common market but with Blair / Brown ringing the bells.?
Rome was not built in a day neither was what we observe is now happening to our NHS and before Cameron
or May.

Most of the follow up letters are typed in India, hence the delay.

I now have in my area a health centre attached to the local doctors surgery and with its own pharmacy. Dreading having to keep an out patient apt at a major city hospital miles from where I live ,with ott parking charges I was relieved to receive an apt at the health centre with the consultant who was to do the tests that I was expecting at the major hospital.I was told they are using a post code system for out patients in these health centres which will reduce pressure on major hospitals. This saved me time and money as well as the stress of city traffic and I had received a phone call with my apt and back up by letter.

Hospital appoinment letter is followed up by another confirming the date and asking you to let them know if you wont be able to make it or now dont need it.Quite sensible I think as people get appointments that are a couple of months ahead and may not need the appointment nearer the time.My dentist also does e-mail appointment reminders

I'd second Patticake's advice. Write to your MP. MPs must write to the SoS for Health (JH) for a response. Use pester power.

Whilst I agree that creeping privatisation is a (not too well) hidden agenda, another factor, I feel, is the woeful lack of proper management and training of hospital admin services. They are surely the poor relation, with some healthcare professionals having the attitude of 'anyone can do that'.

Until that changes, I fear that hospital admin will remain in a dire state.

Totally agree patticake. Services are increasingly privatised, oh so quietly, virgin franchises being very heavily involved. private companies require profit, which is not reinvested in nhs, staff are squeezed not replaced and are demoralised until ‘they’ can decide that the nhs is no longer working and a new system has to be devised, probably similar to USA.