Missed Appointments (Did Not Attend) Policy

Missed appointments

Appointments at St Fillans Medical Centre are in high demand. When an appointment is missed without being cancelled, another patient loses the opportunity to be seen.

We understand that sometimes things happen unexpectedly and you may be unable to attend. If you can’t make your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer it to another patient.

What is a DNA?

DNA means “Did Not Attend”. This is when you have a booked appointment but do not attend and have not cancelled it beforehand.

What happens if I miss an appointment?

We look at missed appointments individually and understand that there may be a genuine reason why you were unable to attend.

If you miss an appointment, we may contact you to ask what happened. Please let us know if there were circumstances that prevented you from attending.

Missed appointments are monitored over a 12 month period.

If you repeatedly miss appointments without letting us know:

First missed appointment

We will contact you and remind you of the importance of cancelling appointments you cannot attend.

Second missed appointment

We will write to you again and ask you to contact us if there was a reason you could not attend.

Third missed appointment within 12 months

Your repeated non-attendance will be reviewed by the practice. This may result in you being removed from the practice patient list.

Any decision will take account of your individual circumstances.

Telephone appointments

If you have booked a telephone appointment, please make sure we have your correct telephone number and that you are available to answer the call.  Scheduled telephone calls will be within one hour either side of the appointment time.

Our clinicians may call from a withheld number.

If we are unable to reach you, we will record that the telephone consultation could not take place and may contact you to arrange another appointment.

Children who miss appointments

We refer to a child's missed appointment as “Was Not Brought” rather than “Did Not Attend”, because it is the responsibility of their parent or carer to bring them to their appointment.

Missed appointments involving children may be followed up by the practice, particularly where there are concerns about the child's health or wellbeing.

Please help us make the best use of appointments

If you no longer need your appointment or cannot attend, please cancel it as soon as you can.

Cancelling means we can offer the appointment to another patient who may be waiting for care.

Thank you for helping us make the best use of NHS appointments.