to rhink the reason why so many NHS appointments are not attended is......

[HookedOnHooking]

People simply cannot get through to cancel or change them.

I have rung over and over and over again and cannot get through. Currently been on hold for 20 minutes.......

Thumbwitchesabroad yes I have read the thread & I know certain departments are a nightmare to get through to on the phone. However where I work , this really isn't a problem! So wind your neck in eh?

My "neck" isn't out. I asked you a perfectly polite question based on your apparently limited-outlook post. Shame you didn't see fit to be as polite in your response.

I'm gobsmacked. So let me understand this - if you're sick, you phone up for an appointment to see a GP and once you get through to someone they make the appointment for you and print it off and pop it in an envelope for you which then goes into the post and will arrive on your hall floor the next day or day after???

Perhaps if the overworked admin staff weren't asked to send out letters for something that a patient could write down on a calendar for themselves (or a post it or a piece of paper and stick up on their wall) then there would be more time to attend to the phones? Also if there weren't so many things to be posted out, the NHS would have more money to spend on staffing???
#JustASuggestion
#SavingsToBeMade

The letters tend to be for "bigger things", hospital appointments and tests, or scheduled things at the GPs surgery like scheduled clinics for things. GP visits dont tend to have to be arranged by letter :)

The only ones I've missed are where the hospital has made an appointment for me on a day or time I can't make and, yes, I was unable to get through to cancel it.

It's fine with my GP because I can make appointments online, and cancel them online, at any time of day or night. I'm not sure why hospitals are still in the dark ages and can't communicate by email or through a PatientAccess-type system. It would save millions.

Ah...fair enough...still seems a bit excessive if you could write it down and it's within a week or fortnight of the original request.

The thing is though, you dont know at the time, and whoever is making the request doesnt either. You get told you'll be referred for x test or x clinic by your GP (or consultant etc) but its the actual hospital/clinic in question that finds an available appointment, books you in, and then sends you a letter with the location, date and time on it.

If waiting lists are long, you might have to wait for months before a slot comes up and you get a letter.

Hospital appts seem to be months in advance(though i assume quicker if serious)
I guess phone calls would be time consuming, but booking yourself online seems to be the way to go.

My surgery is switching to online appointment booking and repeat prescription ordering which is a hugely positive step forwards.

Some bright spark has, however, actually disabled the ability to register for this online system online, so all patients have to physically go into the surgery and wait in the queue while the receptionist to print off their log in details and hand it to them.

All because "there's a lot of identity theft about these days".

Words fail me.