More than £3.6 million of NHS money was wasted last year because people in Tayside did not turn up for hospital appointments.
Figures for January to September show there were 30,839 did not attend (DNA) appointments at the region’s hospitals — meaning an average of 113 people each day failed to appear for an appointment without giving notice.
Jean Turner, executive director of the Scottish Patients’ Association, has demanded an investigation. She said failed appointments mean delays for people on waiting lists for treatment, but insisted it is not always the fault of the patients who do not attend.
“I think 30,000 is a vast number and ought to be investigated thoroughly to find out what is wrong that these people had a problem keeping their appointments,” she said.
“It is patients’ money being wasted in this way and if money is being wasted in one way people aren’t getting treatment for things like cancer in the other direction.
“I used to work in a health centre and we never used to have much of a problem with DNAs but the surgery across from mine was constantly sticking up signs saying there were 40 or 50 DNAs. It says more about how you are running your business.”
The figures were available from January to September, so even more appointments will have been missed in the last three months of the year.
NHS Tayside estimates each outpatient appointment costs around £118.
TaxPayers’ Alliance director Matthew Sinclair said, “While mistakes do happen, not turning up to a hospital appointment is unfair, irresponsible and wastes taxpayers’ money on a significant scale.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside defended its efforts to cut down DNAs.
“There are a number of initiatives we are developing to try to reduce the DNA rate,” she said. “One of these is a system called patient-focused booking which is being used in several areas where we write to patients six weeks before they are due to attend an outpatient clinic and invite them to call us to arrange an appointment time and date which suits them.
“We are also currently piloting an automated telephone reminder service in our renal department. This gives our patients a reminder about their appointment and the opportunity to cancel or reschedule, if necessary.
“This pilot is being closely monitored to assess whether a patient reminder does have a positive effect on the number of missed appointments.”
Photo courtesy of Flickr user boliston.