Missed appointments policy (DNA)
Last Updated: Thursday, 17 April 2025Did not attend (DNA) overview
A Did Not Attend (DNA) occurs when an appointment is not attended and the Patient has not contacted the Practice in advance to cancel it or where the cancellation is so late as to make it impossible to allocate that time to another Patient who needs treatment.
The Practice will code this DNA and this will prompt a retrospective check on the number of DNAs recorded against that person. Whilst we are primarily concerned with our own appointment observance, consideration may also be given to any hospital appointments where we have been notified that a Patient has failed to attend.
A re-referral on the part of the GP (more GP time) will often be required by the hospital department so that the Patient can be recalled. When an appointment is not attended, a code will be added to the Patient’s medical record and the DNA counted in a monthly search.
What happens when patients miss appointments?
We realise that everyone can make mistakes and therefore we won’t take any action if a single appointment is missed in error. However, we have a minority of patients who miss appointments regularly and this can impact significantly on other patients. We have a policy in place to take action in these circumstances which has been fully approved by our Patient Participation Group.
when an appointment is missed we send out a text saying we are sorry you missed your appointment and reminding you to cancel appointments if you cannot attend them.