Turn Up or Tell ’Em: It’s good for the NHS’s health (From This is Hampshire)

Echo and NHS join forces to put a brake on trend for missing appointments

6:20pm Tuesday 19th January 2010 in News By Will Carson

Turn Up or Tell ’Em: It’s good for the NHS’s health

THE Daily Echo today launches its Turn Up or Tell ’Em campaign to reduce the staggering losses to our hospitals through missed appointments.

As we exclusively revealed yesterday, more than 5,000 appointments are missed every month across the region’s major hospitals at a cost of up to £6.1m a year – or £100 for every appointment missed. That’s enough to pay for about 200 fully trained nurses a year or 950 full hip operations. The Daily Echo is now calling on Hampshire residents to help cut the number of Did Not Attends (DNAs) by making sure they Turn Up to appointments or Tell ’Em if you can’t make it.

Southampton University Hospitals’ NHS Trust (SUHT), which runs Southampton General, the Princess Anne and some services at the Royal South Hants Hospital, has registered 20,500 people who have not attended their appointments from April to October.

During 2008-2009 one in ten patients didn’t bother to show up with 38,000 missed outpatient appointments – a 26 per cent increase on the 30,239 missed appointments recorded two years previously.

Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust (WEHCT), responsible for running Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital and Andover War Memorial Hospital, has seen 10,500 DNAs from April to September.

Both trusts threw their weight behind the campaign and said they would display our posters throughout their hospitals.

SUHT use a ‘choose and book’ system which allows patients to book hospital appointments at their convenience through their GP surgeries, then follow up bookings with reminder letters, phone calls and text messages.

Steve McManus, chief operating officer at SUHT, said: “We welcome this campaign reminding people to inform us if they are unable to attend their hospital appointments.

“We do understand that there are many reasons for people being unable to make it, but by calling in, we can try to reschedule others and make use of the time available.”

WEHCT said it also used text messages to remind patients of their appointments where possible. A spokesman for Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust said: “We are delighted the Daily Echo is raising awareness of about the financial and hidden costs of missed hospital appointments.

Hospital manager Andrew Cable, who is leading a project to cut DNAs, added: “The financial costs are shocking but the hidden costs are equally depressing.” The trust has launched a project to find out why people don’t turn for appointments at Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital. If you would like to give your feedback call Andrew Cable at the hospital on 01962 863535 or email andrew.cable@wehct.nhs.uk.