We have a small number of patients who frequently fail to turn up to their appointments. If you miss several appointments, we may place you on a special register.

The principle is that unless you confirm your attendance, your appointment will be given to another patient.

Please see below steps that we will take should this happen:

• Patients will receive an SMS, or email message the day before their appointment which they can reply to with a simple “Yes” or “No” answer. If they do not respond by 17:00pm of the day before the appointment (Friday for a Monday appointment) it will be assumed they will not be attending, and their appointment cancelled and given to someone else.
• If patients wish to cancel an appointment, they can call our cancellation line on 01603 228686 option 1 by 17:00pm the day before their upcoming appointment (Friday for a Monday appointment).
• If patients come to an appointment that has been cancelled, they will NOT be seen. If they have emergency symptoms – i.e., shortness of breath, chest pains – they will be triaged by the duty team but otherwise, they will be asked to make another appointment.
• Patients will have the same reminder text as everyone else, so please ensure mobile numbers and emails are up to date. Please do not rely on this. This reminder service can be affected by coverage and/or other issues.
• Blood tests– Patients who miss a blood test will be given their ICE Form to obtain elsewhere – e.g., the hospital and walk in centre.
• It is the patient’s responsibility to attend their appointments.

This register will be reviewed each month. If patients feel that their attendance has improved, then they are welcome to write to us and we will consider the matter. We do not wish to keep patients on this register for any longer than necessary. We are taking these measures to reduce the excessive number of missed appointments.