One in five regularly miss GP appointments

One in five patients are regularly missing GP appointments in Scotland, with younger people the worst offenders, new research has found.

A study, published in the journal The Lancet Public Health, of more than 500,000 people shows young males are most likely to not attend.

The study found 19 per cent of patients missed more than two in a three-year period.

Younger, male patients aged 16 to 30 were found to be the worst offenders.

The appointments that were booked two or three days in advance were more likely to be missed than those made two weeks in advance.

In 2014, NHS England estimated that more than 12 million GP visits are missed each year in the UK - costing the health service more than £162 million per year.

David Ellis, of University of Lancaster, is one of the lead authors of the study. He said: “Some of the solutions might include practices learning to better manage patients who are more likely to not attend.

"So for example that might mean giving more appointments on the day than say, two to three days in advance.

"And because we've already got a kind of profile of what those patients might look like who are more likely to not attend, that's where the more targeted interventions could be pushed.”

Ranjit Gill, Stockport GP, said: “The NHS is now, for our younger population, seen as a consumer service, a bit like John Lewis and so perhaps valued differently to the way our older population see the NHS.

"I can't think of the last time one of my older patients ever missed an appointment.

“"We have to check for each missed appointment that there wasn't a worrying reason behind that missed appointment whether it be mental health, safeguarding issues or other welfare concerns about patients.

"That takes time and that's a lost opportunity again, for that patient and other patients as well.”

Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “Whilst practices will always try to offer appointments that are timely and convenient for patients, the current resource and workforce pressures we are facing, with GPs conducting more consultations than ever before to meet increasing demand, is making this more and more difficult.

"GP practices across the country are already implementing some successful schemes to reduce missed appointments, from text messaging reminders to better patient education and awareness posters detailing the unintended consequences of a patient not attending.

"But ultimately, we need NHS England's GP Forward View - promising £2.4 billion extra a year for general practice and 5,000 more GPs - to be delivered in full and as a matter of urgency.

"And we need equivalent promises made and delivered in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so that we can deliver the care our patients need, whatever their circumstances, and wherever in the country they live."