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Removing patient is very last resort

30/ 8/2007

WHILE we understand the frustrations that other patients and doctors in Tameside and Glossop feel when some people persistently fail to turn up for GP appointments, we think it is important that practices find out why this is happening before taking precipitant action.

Many practices have a process to deal with the situation and help these patients use NHS services more appropriately.

This is against a background where GPs struggle on a daily basis to shoehorn in everyone who wants to be seen. We also have patients who want to register with us when we lack the capacity to take on more. We point out that wasted appointments deprive other patients of an opportunity as well as wasting clinician time.

Removing a patient from a list for misuse of the service should be absolutely the last resort taken after the patient has had some opportunity to explain what has happened.

As for the idea of charging patients who do not attend, the majority of GPs do not support charging patients who miss appointments. They have demonstrated this by repeatedly voting against the idea at their annual conference.

Dr Kailash Chand

Local Medical Council, secretary for West Pennine