An audit of the factors involved in new patient non-attendance in a dermatology out-patient department

Bottomley, W.W.; Cotterill, J.A.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2230.1994.tb02691.x

Cited by 40 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…In a review paper, the non-attendance rate in the US is estimated ranging from 5 to 55% whereas UK figures range from 2.9 to 11.7% [12]. 2 The Danish rates seems to be low compared to e.g. UK estimates on 12% non-attendance rate for hospital outpatient appointments in 1993-1994 [29,54,55].…”

Section: The Extent Of Non-attendance -A Danish Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The economics of non-attendance and the expected effect of charging a fine on non-attendees

Bech

2005

Health Policy

106

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Section: The Extent Of Non-attendance -A Danish Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The economics of non-attendance and the expected effect of charging a fine on non-attendees

Bech

2005

Health Policy

106

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“…8 9 Patients may forget their appointment, 10 11 but others make a conscious decision to miss it, balancing perceived benefits and costs. 12 13 The main hospital factor is inadequate communication.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect on hospital attendance rates of giving patients a copy of their referral letter: randomised controlled trial

Hamilton

Round

Sharp

1999

BMJ

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Objectives To investigate whether sending patients a copy of their referral letter can reduce non-attendance at outpatient departments. Design Blinded randomised controlled trial. Setting 13 general practices in Exeter, Devon. Subjects 2078 new consultant referrals from 26 doctors. Main outcome measures Non-attendance at outpatient departments. Results The doctors excluded 117 (5.6%) referrals, and 100 (4.8%) received no appointment. Attendance data were available for 1857 of the 1861 patients sent an appointment (99.8%). The receipt of a copy letter had no effect on the non-attendance rate: copy 50/912 (5.5%) versus control 50/945 (5.3%). Conclusion Copy letters are ineffective in reducing non-attendance at outpatient departments.

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“…21 Patient questionnaires suggest that reasons for nonattendance include forgetting, illness, work commitments, transport, and administrative problems on the part of the hospital. 23,24,25 Non-attendees are more likely to complain of lack of information about the reason for the appointment. 21 Addressing this problem by informing patients by post what to expect, who they will see, what to bring, and where to park, reduced the DNA rate from 15% to around 7% in one study.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Non-attendance ('Dna')mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…21,22 Short notice of appointment, especially less than three days, was associated very strongly with non-attendance in one study, 21 but a wait of over two months before the appointment was also predictive of non-attendance in others. 22,23 The seriousness or urgency of the suspected diagnosis has not been shown to affect attendance. 21 Patient questionnaires suggest that reasons for nonattendance include forgetting, illness, work commitments, transport, and administrative problems on the part of the hospital.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Non-attendance ('Dna')mentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical outpatients: changes that can benefit patients

Dunnill

Pounder

2004

Clinical Medicine

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-This article reviews the current literature relating to medical outpatient services. It has been produced as part of the RCP/NHS Confederation working party on outpatients departments. The article deals with surveys of patient views on outpatients, suggested ways of improving the service, and how best to accommodate teaching in this setting. An RCP booklet, 'How user friendly is your outpatient department?', has also been produced and is available from the college. KEY WORDS: ambulatory care, appointment, booking, clinic, outpatient, waiting timeMost physicians spend a significant part of their week working in the outpatient department but although the consultation in the outpatient clinic is an important part of patients' hospital care, it is traditionally an under-resourced area of the hospital. There has been little research into improving the service and, as a result, the experience for patients is not always as good as it should be.A well-run clinic will not only improve the experiences of patients but also the working lives of clinic staff. It may reduce the need for admission to hospital, both for disease control and for its investigation. 1 There is currently also political pressure for change, particularly regarding waiting times. The Government has recently issued a target of a maximum of three months wait for all outpatients' appointments by 2005. 2 This article reviews the literature relating to outpatients, with a focus on medical outpatients. The Working Party's aim was to develop recommendations to enable physicians to improve the experience for patients attending their clinics, and the work culminated in the publication of a booklet for health professionals. 3 Inevitably, in this paper there is some overlap with managerial issues (for example, direct booking systems or computer referral systems), and while some of these are beyond the scope of this article, they are addressed where physicians will be expected to work with managers to improve service delivery. Search strategyThe bibliographic databases Medline and Embase were searched for articles on outpatients, hospital outpatient clinics, outpatient departments or ambulatory care. Papers on day care were excluded. The results were limited to the UK, to the years 1966-2002 and to papers in English with abstracts available. Surveys of patient attitudes and satisfaction Waiting time and appointmentsLong waits for a first outpatient appointment are a common cause of patient dissatisfaction. However, one survey of a gastroenterology clinic showed that patients placed a similar value on waiting time for investigation and waiting for the first appointment: 4 a clinic that had a two-month wait for appointment, but offered immediate investigation was preferable to one with a two-week wait for appointment but a three-month wait for investigation. The authors suggest that to focus just on 'wait to first appointment' is too simplistic and does not take account of patient preferences.The length of time patients have to wait in the clinic before ...

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An audit of the factors involved in new patient non-attendance in a dermatology out-patient department

Cited by 40 publications

References 2 publications

The economics of non-attendance and the expected effect of charging a fine on non-attendees

The economics of non-attendance and the expected effect of charging a fine on non-attendees

Effect on hospital attendance rates of giving patients a copy of their referral letter: randomised controlled trial

Medical outpatients: changes that can benefit patients

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