WESTBURY Group Practice has issued an appeal for patients to cancel appointments they can’t attend, after around 138 hours of staff time was wasted in a single three-month period.
Recent figures showed that 826 appointments were missed at the White Horse Health Centre and Bratton Surgery in May, June and July alone – an average of nearly 70 per week.
Practice manager at the White Horse Health Centre, Mark Dickson told White Horse News, “With recruitment of GPs nationally so difficult, it is of the utmost importance for us to use the capacity available wisely and as efficiently as possible.
“Missed appointments are a waste of this valuable resource with no way to recoup this loss. When so many are trying to book appointments and our staff trying their very best to accommodate all our patients requiring an appointment, it is disappointing to see the continued level of missed appointments.”
The recent figure amounts to over 10% of all appointments in the period, which saw 7,803 booked. 280 people did not attend their GP appointments, and a further 546 people missed an appointment with a nurse. This equates to around 47 hours of wasted GP time and 91 hours of wasted nurse time.
The figure is down on last year, which saw 12% of appointments failed in the same period but it is still far too high, says the practice.
Westbury Group Practice runs the only two medical centres in the Westbury area, and provides healthcare for a population of around 20,000 people, one in five of whom are of retirement age.
The surgery urges anyone who cannot attend an appointment to telephone the surgery on 01373 828330 to cancel, so the appointment can be made available to other patients.
Westbury Group Practice offers a text reminder service to patients who register their details at reception.
