Missed Appointments
In conjunction with its partners, the Institute is promoting a study across the whole UK into the vexed question of missed appointments and trying to identify possible ways of at least reducing their impact on services. Chief executives were recently asked to complete and return brief questionnaires. Our activity in this area prompted an interesting and tangential response from the Scottish Ambulance Service. Most managers are only too well aware of the wasted resources tied up in missed appointments but did you know that last year the Scottish Ambulance Service had no fewer than 163,055 abortive journeys, a large percentage of which resulted in DNAs (Did Not Attend) - a quite staggering figure. Any analysis of this mammoth total makes disturbing reading with so many services and budgets under pressure.
We await the results of the study but surely this critical issue in its widest sense must be addressed.