Harlow heath bosses study on missed GP appointments:”Thanks for not standing us up!”
Health / Thu 4th Jul 2019 at 08:18am
Thanks for not standing us up!
A study into why people miss their GP appointments
A new study into why people miss GP appointments has been published by Stellar Healthcare.
The report, which targets millennials (21-35 year olds) as the most likely group to miss appointments, reveals insights into why Did Not Attend (DNA) rates remain high amongst younger adults.
Commissioned by NHS West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (WECCG), Stellar Healthcare undertook a four phased approach to identifying the causes and the remedies for people who miss their appointments, with a special focus on evening and weekend GP appointments.
Debbie Bodhanya, Chief Executive of Stellar Healthcare, said: “We believe this is the first time anyone has taken a holistic view on the reasons why people miss their appointments. Our team took a three-pronged approach which included research and data, patient insight and practice review in order to get an in depth understanding of the issues. We then created a communications campaign targeting millennials which could help raise awareness of the challenges facing general practice every day.”
The key findings in the report include:
1. Millennials do not have the same nostalgic and historical relationship with the NHS as older generations do.
2. Technological advancement is crucial to booking and cancelling appointments and GP practices need to modernise.
3. GP practices should streamline and harmonise their appointment processes.
4. Regular text message reminders reduce DNA rates and encourage attendance/cancellation of appointments.
5. Admin errors are often the reason why appointments are missed.
6. Direct messaging is the best way to communicate with millennials.
7. Promotional and health messages should be targeted to younger adult groups.
8. Millennials feel like they are being told off and respond better to praise.
9. Campaign messaging should appeal to their desire to help others.
10. Sometimes life gets in the way and people just forget or can’t attend their appointments.
Peter Wightman, Director of Primary Care, NHS West Essex CCG, said: “The issue of missed appointments is a big concern for us as it wastes valuable GP time that could have been spent with patients. This study gives us some real insight into the reasons behind why people do not attend, in particular among our younger population and their emotional response to messaging. In line with the ambitions of the NHS Long Term plan, with its focus on digital there are also some key actions for GP practices around modernisation, something we are keen to support and encourage.”
The study also provides recommendations and practical changes that practices can adopt in order to improve attendance. A full copy of the report is available at http://stellarhealthcare.net/news/260-thanks-for-not-standing-us-up.
jhumphreys84
2019-07-04 11:33:55
Very interesting to see the first main finding - Millennials do not have the same nostalgic and historical relationship with the NHS as older generations do. But then when you reflect on it, it's actually quite a big leap to make that statement and could actually be viewed another way. Millennials also don't remember a time when you could see a GP within a week without making an emergency appointment. They also don't remember when the NHS was seen as the best healthcare system in Europe, instead of being seen at the bottom of the charts for things like cancer 5 year survivorship because both diagnosis and access to treatments is slow and low. And although missed appointments are a wasted cost, there are other much bigger wastes in the NHS system which need to be addressed first rather than criticising one age group. you could say the over 65's have multiple health conditions and bed block when social care should be doing that job, now that is a huge cost. So although missed appointments are bad, i think there needs to be some understanding from the CCG side here that if the service is perceived as crap, then no wonder people don't engage with it well or don't value it. I really hope the language used in this report isn't a bang on the drum of everything about the NHS is wonderful and privatisation is the devil. When actually, whatever option is best for patients and the healthcare budget should remain on the table. Also, if you want to engage an audience that demands what it wants now, then provide a better service and people will work better with it. Don't go blaming everyone else but yourself...
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