DID NOT ATTEND (DNA) POLICY & INFORMATION
A DNA is when a patient Does Not Attend a booked appointment with any member of the team and does not contact the surgery in advance to cancel or change the appointment.
There is huge pressure throughout the NHS on appointment availability. By increasing awareness of this problem and enforcing our policy robustly we would like to reduce the number of DNAs in order to free up appointments for those who need them.
The effects of DNAs are:-
- Increased waiting time for appointments
- Increased pressure on staff who are unable to offer prompt appointments
- Potentially a health risk to patients
Remember Your DNA could be another patient’s appointment – please be considerate and let us know if you can’t attend!
DNA POLICY
We require you to inform the practice of a cancellation at least 2 hours prior to the appointment time.
If a patient fails to attend an appointment we will send a letter to the patient explaining it is not acceptable and informing the patient of ways to cancel their appointment.
If the patient then fails to attend another appointment within 12 months of the first DNA letter a final warning letter will be sent to the patient advising them that a further DNA will result in the patient being removed from the practice list.
If a patient fails to attend another appointment within 12 months of the final warning letter the patients details will be passed on to the Practice Manager. The Practice Manager will contact the patient to discuss the issue and explain there will be a meeting with GP Partners to decide on next step – removal from list.
We appreciate that on occasions there are special circumstances which may have result in a DNA – e.g. Dementia / hospital admission etc and if you inform reception that this applies to you we will take this into consideration. If you feel that a DNA letter has been sent in error please contact reception staff to discuss this further.