Missed appointments cost RJAH more than £800,000 a year

Missed appointments at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry are costing the hospital more than £800,000 a year.

Every month, an average of around 423 patients fail to attend a pre-planned appointment; a figure which represents 4.6% of all appointments at RJAH. In 2015, a total of 5,079 appointments did not go ahead because the patient did not attend.

This has a financial implication – each appointment carries a cost of approximately £160 – but, even more importantly, means that another patient who might have been seen instead is forced to wait longer than necessary.

Kim Barrow, Director of Operations at RJAH, said: “I would advise patients that it is important you attend at the date and time you are offered in your appointment letter. If for any reason you find you cannot attend, then please let us know as soon as possible as we may then be able to offer your slot to someone else.

“We have a text reminder service in place so that we can send out reminders close to the appointment, but we know that there are more than 30 per cent of our patients who do not have, or have not provided us with, a mobile phone number.

“If we can cut the number of missed appointments then that will mean more people are being seen in clinics, and they are being treated faster. Everyone benefits from that – the patients and the hospital,” she added.

“We expanded our phone contact service about a month ago to start calling patients in the evenings, as we know that a lot of people are not available during the day. That is allowing us to agree more appointments mutually with the patient and we are already seeing an impact from that, but we want to do more.”

Patients are also being encouraged to make sure they are fit for surgery before arriving for surgery. In the 2014-15 financial year, the hospital were forced to postpone 197 operations on the day of surgery because they were not medically fit for their procedure.

There are a number of reasons why a procedure may not be able to go ahead as planned – for example if the patient has a chest infection or is on any kind of medication that could interfere with the work of the surgical and anaesthetic team.

“We know patients can find it frustrating and upsetting to arrive at hospital for an operation, only to be told we cannot proceed as planned,” added Kim. “It is better for the patient if this decision can be taken in advance. I would say to anyone due for surgery soon who is not sure if they are fit to proceed: give us a call to discuss it.

“Get in touch with the Pre-Operative Assessment Team on 01691 404659, and they will be able to advise you.”