It happens to everyone.
You need to book an appointment with your GP, and then something comes up and you can no longer attend the consultation. In the UK, it is estimated that around 15 million GP appointments are missed every year in the NHS, which equates to a lot of money and a lot of wasted time for doctors.
So, if you want to learn more about how you can either reschedule or cancel a GP appointment, read on.
Cancelling an NHS GP Appointment
We all know that from time to time people forget things, and cancelling GP appointments is just one of them. However, this is no longer a case of just forgetting to do something, and it can have ramifications.
It is important to attend booked appointments with your NHS GP, to help manage your health and to keep track of long-standing health problems. So, when booking appointments, try to ensure that you allow for around 1 hour for the appointment window, as it is common for NHS GPs to run a bit behind schedule at times.
However, it may be the case that you cannot attend your appointment time, due to work or an emergency. So, please contact your GP to cancel an appointment as soon as you can. This will allow the GP surgery to offer the appointment to someone else. Of course, people forget things, cancelling GP appointments can be intimidating, but, please, remember that by cancelling, you allow the appointment to go to someone else.
You can cancel your appointment up to 30 minutes before the appointment time, which will help the GP staff to reallocate it. You can cancel your appointment by contacting your GP surgery directly via phone, or you can do so via the NHS App, which allows you to manage your appointments online. Please note that you have to be signed up for these services to manage and cancel appointments.
Not Attending GP Appointments
If you fail to attend an appointment, or the GP surgery is notified less than 30 minutes before the appointment time, this will be registered as a DNA or did not attend/failed to attend. Cancellations notified with less than 30 minutes warning will lead to an appointment slot not being used and a waste of GP resources. This can lead to your GP surgery potentially deciding to discontinue offering you appointments. So, be sure to keep your GP appointment please, and if you cannot attend, remember to cancel your appointment a minimum of 30 minutes beforehand.
Rescheduling a GP Appointment
It may be the case that you still need to see your NHS GP, and you want to reschedule your appointment. So, much as before, if you are signed up to the NHS App, you will be able to log on and reschedule your appointment by clicking the ‘reschedule appointment’ button, rather than the ‘cancel appointment’ button. Or, again, you can contact your GP surgery directly via phone. Just make sure you do so a minimum of 30 minutes before your scheduled appointment time.
If you need any help managing, rescheduling, or cancelling your NHS GP appointment, please contact us for more information.
The post How To Cancel or Reschedule a GP Appointment appeared first on NHS GP.