To think that if you cancel on the day with the NHS, you should be put to the bottom of the list?

I've been on a waiting list for an op on my jaw for years, I have treatments every few months (intramuscular injections) in the meantime. When I fell pregnant they contacted me and said I was not able to have the injections when pregnant and cancelled my appointments. A month later they contacted me again to let me know I'd been discharged as I hadn't been to my appointments 🙃

other countries in the UK have their own specific digital services which are similar or almost identical.

Erm, no they don’t.

I can see already that you are ideally suited to the job.

My MIL cancelled appointments because she didn’t like the weather, she would tell them she was sick though. She did it a few times and they failed to send her a new appointment. She never chased it up and it was one of the things that killed her in the end.

Weve also had letters after an appointment. DH couldn’t drive at the time and I drove him to an appointment at a regional hospital 50 miles away to find the doctor was on a 2 week holiday and they had forgotten to cancel the patients.

This is so bizarre. You make a slightly confusing thread then get aggressive with anyone who doesn’t seem to understand or agree with you.

However, I agree with you to a point. Some people with cancel due to nerves, others will have legitimate reasons to cancel and they should t be penalised because of those who cancel for drains you seem to be non-legitimate. How do you differentiate? People will simply lie and say they’re too sick to attend so the problem won’t go away.

I recently had an appointment with the NHS and the amount of paperwork and fannying about was shocking. Even the nurse told me some of it was ridiculous. The NHs waste so much money it is mad. And yes, I imagine some of that waste is on shitty patients.

There are a shocking number of DNA appts in the NHS.
of course sometimes it can’t be helped, but our local GP was running at 15%.
recently at hospital , 1 person failed to turn up out of 4 on a morning operating list,

Isn't there just 🙄
Why?

@citygirl77 , that's a truly horrifying story. I'm so sorry. Some people working in the NHS were heartless to start with and some are made heartless by working in such a brutal system where there is never enough of anything. But there are no excuses for such an appalling lack of care ❤️

I don't agree with going to the end of the list because you cannot attend an appointment that you are given a few days notice for

You never know what's going on in people's lives tbh. I had to cancel one on the day last week. I have a spinal injury that causes chronic pain but most of the time doesn't affect my mobility to severely. I can walk around 15 meters and use my wheelchair outside of the house.

Last week however I woke up fully paralysed and didn't get feeling back for about 7 hours. I was trapped in my bedroom as I live alone and my wheelchair was folded up on the other side of the flat. Ironically the appointment was for a fitting for a new wheelchair!

I agree that not turning up for an NHS appointment is poor. My friend worked on a children's day ward and the number of people who didn't turn up for their surgery was staggering - and this is children. Beyond belief really and so upsetting for families whose children are waiting such a long time for surgery to have appointments wasted.

The NHS do cancel appointments too - don't get me started on the nightmare we had to endure with my elderly father who was waiting for surgery/treatment, it was an absolute joke.

BUT I don't think it is fair to say that it's OK for the public to be no shows for appointments because the NHS cancel appointments - like some kind of tit for tat. We should all do our bit to protect the NHS as much as we can by keeping appointments - we're all going to need them at some stage.

Not in this part of the UK, you can’t.

Apparently we're imagining it and everybody can book online through a system called E-referrals.

The letter for my X-ray when I had pneumonia arrived 3 days after the day of the appointment.

One big difference is that for other services you make a mutually convenient appointment, and if you can't make it you give them a quick ring and either cancel or reschedule.

I've never had anyone else but the NHS send me a random appointment and expect me to be there, yet also provide no sensible means of contacting them if I can't attend.

MRI scans, maybe?

I'd like to know how many people on this thread are able to manage their appointments online through "E-referrals, the national platform"?

Really. We waited a full 16 months for a cardiology appointment for my son, he woke up with a vomiting bug surely you aren’t suggesting we soldier in and risk it spread through the hospital OR that we go to the bottom of the list??

Surely you aren't making the embarrassing error of thinking NHS England is the whole NHS and that services are uniform throughout it? Surely not.

Can we charge the NHS if they waste our time?
if they cancel more than once and you have arranged annual leave etc.
i have seen some of the worst and best of the NHS recently, when my FIL was in hospital. The NHS housing officer, who was in charge of freeing up ‘ bedblockers’ got in touch with my husband and said they needed to get him out of hospital. Despite being on maximum oxygen and having pneumonia they started to plan to put him in a travel lodge. I said this was ridiculous and he would not manage, he also had 2 catheters and was not mobile. She demanded we send copies of our council tax bills, so they could place him in our town, despite his previous home only being 8 miles away. She was very aggressive in her tone. To cut a long story short, he died a few days after her demands. She kept bombarding us about the Travel Lodge and finally my husband told her my FIL was dead and maybe they could communicate with medical staff. Then when my husband went to visit his father, having missed the death by minutes, they had let him die on a 6 bedded ward. The curtains were half open and the elderly gentlemen opposite could see the body. His mouth was gaping wide open, no pillow placed to support the jaw. So now that memory is etched in my husbands mind. He apologised to the gentlemen opposite and left. Poor form for a 86 year old to die with zero dignity.

I work for the NHS. In a different capacity now but worked many years clinically in ultrasound. I understand your frustration's, wasted appointments are really annoying. Even more so when letters have been sent, text reminders and follow up calls. Our department still call all patients when booking and then confirming appointments a week and the day before. We still get DNA’s. We used to display the amount of hours wasted on DNA’s in our waiting room as a bit of a deterrent. We operate a 3 strikes and you’re out system where the patient will be referred back to the Gp/referee if they fail to attend 3 appointments. I think charging for DNA’s who haven’t bothered to cancel would be beneficial to the departments/NHS as a whole.

As long as some given enough time to re fill the slot we have no issue with cancellations. t’s not alway as easy as saying ‘unless you have a good reason’. Most people think their reason is good enough. Even last minute cancellations, lists can be jiggled about to fit someone in.

'I do think though that if people were not kept waiting so much when attending medical appointments there would be more willingness for people to cancel in advance. There is very much a culture of your time is less important than mine.'

Agree with this. It's a complex, system-wide problem with no easy answers

I have to attend a local hospital every 2-3 months for a regular check and update. Have done so for the last 3 years.
i would say at least a third of all my appointments (usually advised soon after a visit) have been canceled by the clinic and rescheduled, some with only 2-3 days notice, some the day before. Occasionally I may get a thinly veiled reason…..drs strikes, or staff holidays etc. the fact that the main consultant only does one day a week in clinic doesn’t help much either!
I work full time and my employers are very good and supportive, but this changing around just messes everyone up.

I had to cancel an appointment once on the day I had vomiting and diarrhea I got took of the list completely in error took nearly a year to get a new appointment. Next time I will just go no matter how infectious I am