Did Not Attend (DNA) Policy

We understand that there are sometimes unforeseen circumstances. We ask you to let us know by by responding “CANCEL” to the automatic SMS appointment reminder message. Alternatively, you can cancel via the NHS App or simply by calling the surgery and speaking to reception. This enables us to offer the appointment to someone else in need of care. Appointments with any NHS clinician are at a premium, with demand being extremely high. Appointments are also a costly resource for the NHS. We therefore want to ensure best use and have made it easy for you to cancel if you can’t attend rather than wasting an appointment that could have helped someone else and putting further pressure on our resources.

Patients who repeatedly fail to turn up to appointments may have restrictions placed on their ability to book an appointment, such as being required to ring confirming their planned attendance the day prior to the appointment. They may be asked to register elsewhere if repeated non-attendance impacts our appointment availability for other patients. Finally, a request can be made for de-registration from the practice patient list.

Deregistration is done as a last resort. Each case will be assessed on an individual basis to ensure there are no mitigating circumstances whereby other more appropriate measures may be put in place.

For those who live out of our catchment area please kindly refer to our out of area policy. Essentially, out of area registrations are intended to make it easier for patients to see a GP and not the opposite.

All out of area patients registering with us should be able to commute easily to our surgery for appointments as well as to be able to access local services including investigations and blood taking services based at local services. 

Please do try to allow for additional time when commuting to the practice to accommodate factors such as delays on public transport, traffic, finding parking and waiting to check-in for arrival.

For telephone appointments please ensure your phone number is up to date and that you are available from the time of the appointment and until 90 minutes after in case the clinician is running late or has an emergency to deal with. You also need to be available to come in if required at short notice for a face-to-face examination rather than use a second appointment at a later date as this also puts pressure on our appointment availability. If the clinician cannot reach you within the above timeframe, after trying 2 x, this will be considered a ‘DNA’.