Why patients miss appointments

Non‐attendance for appointments increases the cost of delivering care, reduces available appointments and increases waiting times for other patients.  

It also has consequences for the person who has missed their appointment.  According to the authors of this paper on non-attendance by diabetes patients, "People with diabetes who do not attend clinic appointments tend to have poorer glycaemic control, more complications, more frequent hospital admissions and increased all‐cause mortality".

So why do patients miss appointments?  

The study involved people with diabetes who had previously failed to attend clinic appointments.  It found three main causes of missed appointments:

The authors suggest that their findings highlight the importance of psychological variables in predicting non‐attendance at diabetes appointments.  They state that "whilst interventions to improve attendance should address practical barriers…there may also be a need to take account of the underlying perceptions about diabetes, the emotional impact and perceived lack of value in attending appointments".

At a time when NHS strategies are focused more and more on "self-management" of long term conditions, these findings could have implications across a range of conditions and services.

You can download the report via our website.
 

 

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