Missing GP or hospital appts,

[Maisie1]

Wouldn't it be good if we could charge people for not turning up for GP or hospital appts. I know in some cases there is a genuine reason but some people can't be bothered but don't cancel

[Hidden]

Hello

It frustrates me because when I am trying to get in the Doctors a lot of the time there are no appointments then when you do get in we have a sign telling us in one week how many did not turn up for their appointment without cancelling and it has been in the hundreds !!! this annoys me because I could have been waiting days , weeks to get in and think to myself how selfish I could have come last week and had one of those appointments !!! It does not take much to pick the phone up and cancel if you no longer need to go and if they charged then that would maybe make people think twice

I do believe though if you do miss regularly without cancelling there can be a penalty but what that is and how many you have to miss I have no idea , obviously with the sign in our surgery not enough !

Take Care x

[Alun001 in reply to Hidden]

Yes this is a real frustration. When I went to see my therapist, he is based in a medical centre, and when i was waiting for him, several names of GP patients were called out and no reply or movement. My therapist guy taught me that we take responsibility for what we do and what we don't do. If we don't take responsibility for something we should take the consequences. So it should be three strikes and your out. It costs £46 for each missed appointment. Strike them off the list and let them reapply somewhere else. To many people are waiting to long for appointments, something needs to change. Peace!

[Agora1]

Hi Maisie1, if people had the courtesy, both for the busy doctor as well as other patients, to cancel 24 hours ahead of time, it would be a perfect world. Since there will always be the last minute cancellation or not cancelling at all, I have used it to my advantage. Since I do my therapy sessions by phone, I told my therapist, I would be her fill in appointment. I couldn't believe all the sessions I was able to have by last minute cancels.

As for the GPs, I always ask to be on a wait list if I need a sooner appointment or they don't mind you calling in to see if there were any cancels that came up that week. It helps some. With the anxiety, it actually works better to avoid the anticipation of the appointment down the road.

Just a thought.. x