Should I follow up re this cancelled hospital appointment?

[Borka]

DS had an appointment with a specialist consultant booked, but while waiting for the appointment date, the issue resolved itself.

I emailed the hospital to cancel but today, 3 weeks after the appointment date, I've been copied in to a letter between the consultant and the doctor who referred DS saying that he was expected at the appointment but didn't turn up.

I feel a bit cross that now it looks as though I just didn't bother to take DS, but is there any point me contacting the hospital to say I did cancel the appointment?

There's no point because emailing is a really inefficient way of cancelling an appointment. Emails get missed.

You should've just called to cancel.

Unless they have an app that supports cancellations (these are slowly creeping in) I agree with girlmom21 you always call to cancel hospital appointments.

As far as they're concerned you're a no show. Emails can easily fall into the junk folder, if you had no acknowledgement then it wasn't confirmed as cancelled.

OK, thanks. They shouldn't give an email address for cancelling if it's so inefficient.

This would really frustrate me too OP

If the letter gave an email address to cancel or change appointments, then you'd be right to assume it was monitored.

We use an email address for my hospital appts too and I rarely get a confirmation but 90% of the time it's been moved or cancelled as per my request.

I am the sort of person to write to the consultant copying in GP with a printed copy of my email but I'm that sort of person unfortunately!

Hospital admin is hugely inefficient. I am routinely seen as have health conditions and am pregnant. I came back from holiday in September to 4 letters:
-you have an appt with obstetrics 3.30 on 30th sept
-you have an appt with urology (diff location) on 3.30 30th sept (can't be in 2 places at once!!)
-we have cancelled your appt on 8th October (I didn't have an appt on 8th October)!
-we have made an appt to see gynaecology for a referral on 11th October at 4.40-if bringing a partner with you, they must wait outside reception

After being on the phone for an hour it transpired that
-the appt with urology was a mistake and shouldn't have been made
-the appt with obstetrics was correct
-the cancelled appt on the 8th was a mix up with someone with an almost identical name to me
-the gynaecology appt was actually telephone despite giving location in the hospital so I didn't need to travel in

Phew, sorry made that about me then but I just mean I totally get it and it's sooooo frustrating!

Blimey, Kidney that sounds like a nightmare!

I wouldn’t worry about it....concentrate on moving forward....has DS been offered another appointment? If so that’s great...just attend that one.....or does the letter say he’s been discharged back into the care of GP ....in which case you will have to request a rereferral

All my hospital letters specifically say to contact a specific number if you are unable to attend an appointment.

@Kitkat151

I wouldn’t worry about it....concentrate on moving forward....has DS been offered another appointment? If so that’s great...just attend that one.....or does the letter say he’s been discharged back into the care of GP ....in which case you will have to request a rereferral

The OP says she cancelled because the issue resolved itself. She just doesn't want a black mark against his name, so to speak.

I would contact the hospital and send a copy of your cancellation e-mail. And send your GP a copy too. Its cheeky if they said cancellation by e-mail is fine.

I got a letter berating me for not turning up to a hospital appointment in the same day the letter arrived asking me to go to the appointment (a week ago)
I know lots of people just don’t turn up and it’s rude and frustrating and should never happen bar an unexpected emergency but they do need to look at their systems as well in some cases

I'd pursue it and get your records corrected. NHS pen pushers love to hold things like that against you in the future.

My OH has cancer and scheduling/re-arranging appointments is almost a full time job to keep on top of the blood tests, infusions, treatments, consultations, and then occasional scans and x-rays.

He got marked down as a "no show" for a telephone consultation. It was scheduled for 11am, but when we didn't get a call, we phoned the oncology dept at 12 to see if it was still scheduled, to be told "you're next", then we phoned again at 1, and again at 2, to be told the same (she must have been on a hell of a long phone call to take 3 hours!). Eventually phoned the secretary to be told he was down on the system as being a no-show, apparently consultant had phoned but got no reply (which is a lie as we were literally sat by the phone all day!). Because it had gone down as a no show, the appts clerk told us it's another 3 week wait till the next available appt and wouldn't back down, even being told that an appt was essential due to the scheduled chemotherapy the following week, so the treatment got delayed for 3 weeks, all because of a stroppy appts clerk!

Thanks everyone, I'm going to try and get the records corrected. Although DS doesn't need another appointment now, I don't want it to cause problems for him in the future.

There do seem to be lots of flaws in the system.

If they've given an email address to cancel then it's perfectly acceptable to do so using that method, in fact it might even be preferable to phoning as at least with email you have a copy in your sent folder as proof.