Missed appointments

[Apple]

Apologies notwithstanding not everyone has the nous or the knowledge of the system to get their issues sorted out or / and contribute to a central port of call that can collate the data on missed appointments. 

Unless we know where the problems are occurring most frequently and why then there is little hope of sorting the issues out. Missed appointments means delayed assessments / treatment decisions and can may contribute to clinical conditions getting worse.

Arguably the GP who made the referrals should also be notified of individual no shows as patients may go back to them for  further input.

Increases costs and delays all round.

[Passing Time]

2 hours ago, Two-lane said:

It is not possible to draw a conclusion without making an effort to find out why appointments were missed. It will take time and money to do some research/interviewing, but without that you are just making assumptions.

You may be right - they just could not be bothered - but then why did they make the effort to make an appointment in the first place?

1. The equivalent of 48 GP appointments per day were missed between April 2021 to March 2022.

2. The total number of patient ‘did not attends’ (DNAs) from April 2021 to March 2022 was 12,444

3. Manx Care explained that the pattern of high DNA numbers appears to be continuing through 2022-23, with 7,332 appointments already missed between April and September 2022

I think the figures speak for themselves. The odd few maybe but this number...

[swoopy2110]

2 hours ago, John Wright said:

Appointment letter dated 6 December received this morning for clinic appointment last Friday 8 December. Tried phoning to apologise and to rebook. Both numbers engaged.

This is just pathetic from the health service. No joined up thinking or common sense at all.

[Happier diner]

12 hours ago, HeliX said:

The amount one smoker would pay in tax on their cigs isn't going to cover the cost of their treatment though.

They should be made to cough up for their own treatment.

[offshoremanxman]

1 hour ago, Passing Time said:

I think the figures speak for themselves. The odd few maybe but this number...

Yes they do and the DHSC should give their systems an overhaul. It’s mostly down to that. It’s amazing how many people buy into this crap. A relative of mine will be one of those DNAs. He missed an appointment because he was dead and the appointment with the specialist had been booked 2 years ago. 

[TheTeapot]

5 hours ago, McCallig said:

If Nobles cancel an appointment:

If they phone you, they know you've got the message. If they text or email and ask you to respond, they know you've got the message. Either way, it's only a couple of minutes of Manx Care time.

Write a letter?????  From initiation to delivery - DAYS. ( and they still wouldn't know you'd received the message )

Is there a grain of common sense anywhere in the upper echelons of the administration?

Personally I prefer the letter approach, I hate 'official' texts, and don't really like getting phone calls, but that's just me, and you're probably right.

[Cinderella]

8 hours ago, John Wright said:

Appointment letter dated 6 December received this morning for clinic appointment last Friday 8 December. Tried phoning to apologise and to rebook. Both numbers engaged.

At the risk of asking the bleeding obvious, why are appointments made by letter? It seems very quaint and completely ridiculous in this day and age. Phone/email are perfectly viable and much quicker alternatives. And cheaper. Letters should only go to handful of oldies who are off grid

[Gladys]

5 minutes ago, Cinderella said:

At the risk of asking the bleeding obvious, why are appointments made by letter? It seems very quaint and completely ridiculous in this day and age. Phone/email are perfectly viable and much quicker alternatives. And cheaper. Letters should only go to handful of oldies who are off grid

Absolutely agree.  Everyone should be asked to confirm their preferred method of contact, perhaps by a postal blitz or progressively as people attend appointments, GP or hospital.  That is assuming the various systems in Manx Care will talk to each other. 

ETA most people don't hop around mobile providers like people do in the UK, so text has got to be more reliable here.  I get a text reminder for my hospital appointments and would be happy if they notified me of appointments booked by the same means. 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Gladys

[0bserver]

6 minutes ago, Cinderella said:

At the risk of asking the bleeding obvious, why are appointments made by letter? It seems very quaint and completely ridiculous in this day and age. Phone/email are perfectly viable and much quicker alternatives. And cheaper. Letters should only go to handful of oldies who are off grid

Keeps CS in jobs.

[Jarndyce]

2 minutes ago, Gladys said:

That is assuming the various systems in Manx Care will talk to each other. 

BIG assumption…

[Gladys]

1 minute ago, Jarndyce said:

BIG assumption…

Thought it may be. 

[Roger Mexico]

Just now, Gladys said:

That is assuming the various systems in Manx Care will talk to each other. 

Which we know they don't.  I think there's something like 40 different systems.  The grand plan for an integrated patient record has probably made things worse as providing a good excuse for not trying to eliminate duplication and encourage integration.

[Gladys]

2 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Which we know they don't.  I think there's something like 40 different systems.  The grand plan for an integrated patient record has probably made things worse as providing a good excuse for not trying to eliminate duplication and encourage integration.

Well, I had a routine review with a locum consultant who could not access my blood test results.  Pretty fundamental when you have a blood condition.  He clearly did not have my records in a single file and had to jump from one system to another and encountered problems logging in to each.  

To the ordinary woman on a Willaston omnibus, I could understand each department having its own bit of a system, but would expect them all to feed into a central patient database. 

[Cinderella]

16 minutes ago, Gladys said:

Well, I had a routine review with a locum consultant who could not access my blood test results.  Pretty fundamental when you have a blood condition.  He clearly did not have my records in a single file and had to jump from one system to another and encountered problems logging in to each.  

To the ordinary woman on a Willaston omnibus, I could understand each department having its own bit of a system, but would expect them all to feed into a central patient database. 

Too logical. Alas

[Roger Mexico]

8 minutes ago, Gladys said:

Well, I had a routine review with a locum consultant who could not access my blood test results.  Pretty fundamental when you have a blood condition.  He clearly did not have my records in a single file and had to jump from one system to another and encountered problems logging in to each.  

To the ordinary woman on a Willaston omnibus, I could understand each department having its own bit of a system, but would expect them all to feed into a central patient database. 

My point was more that the idea of some big project meant that rather than trying to get existing systems to works together where they could do most good, such 'short term' fixes could be put off because the amazing new system would do everything.  When it arrived.  Which it never does.