A DNA is someone who DID NOT ATTEND an appointment at the surgery and did not tell us beforehand so we could cancel the appointment and offer it to another patient. The Doctor or Nurse were waiting, but the patient just did not attend.
DNAs are a serious problem for the NHS. Research shows that across the UK around 13 million GP appointments and 6 million practice nurse appointments are missed each year.
At the practice we had, 45 DNA appointments in the last 7 days. the vast majority of these appointments were for baby immunisations and vaccines. Last month, 130 DNA appointments. Did you try to get an appointment and couldn’t? We could have seen an additional 130 patients if all those who had made an appointment simply cancelled it when they knew they were not going to attend.
The practice will now be sending out text reminders 24 hours before your appointment – PLEASE MAKE SURE WE HAVE YOUR UP-TO-DATE MOBILE NUMBER. There is a function on that text message to cancel your appointment should you no longer need it, this will open that appointment up for someone else.
Our practice policy is to review repeated DNAs, if you DNA 3 or more appointments within a one-year time period we will send you a warning letter informing you that we will remove you from our practice list if you make and fail to attend one more appointment in the next year. It is always with reluctance if we have to remove a patient from our list. PLEASE HELP US BY CANCELLING ANY APPOINTMENT YOU CANNOT ATTEND.
Thank you for your help.
Lucie Wedgwood Surgery
