Cancelled medical appointments

WQ.312/2022

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY M.B. ANDREWS OF ST. HELIER NORTH

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 28th NOVEMBER 2022

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 5th DECEMBER 2022

Question

“Will the Minister advise how many medical appointments for services offered by her Department have been cancelled in 2022?”

Answer

“Will the Minister advise how many medical appointments for services offered by her Department have been cancelled in 2022?”

Answer

The table below shows the Outpatient Clinic appointments cancelled or rescheduled each month between 1 January 2022 and 31 October 2022. The data are shown by the care group of the appointment and the reason the appointment was cancelled.

‘Other’ Care Group comprises Pre-assessment Clinic appointments (where a patient is contacted by a nurse prior to an inpatient or day case admission) and Phlebotomy appointments.

Notes:

1. “Medical appointments” has been interpreted as all General & Acute outpatient medical appointments. As such, the data presented includes Jersey General Hospital and Overdale Hospital activity as well as clinics in other locations, such as Le Bas or Springfield.
2. An appointment is counted as cancelled

1. when the Appointment Status in TrakCare (the electronic system that captures appointment slots) has been set to 'Cancelled' or
2. if the status has been set to 'Not Attended', this can be further categorised by reason, which can be

1. ‘Appointment cancelled by service’. Reasons include instances where clinics are cancelled and rebooked in an alternative location or time, which may be on the same day. It is currently not possible to report on these separately.
2. ‘Appointment cancelled by patient’. Reasons include:

1. Appointment cancelled by or on behalf of the patient
2. Appointment no longer required
3. Appointment no longer required (Pat)
4. Appt cancellation informed by 3rd party
5. Appt cancelled by patient - awaiting patient contact
6. Away from Island/Education/Military/Travel
7. Earlier appointment requested
8. GP instructions

9. Later appointment requested
10. Leaving island
11. Patient transferred to private care

3. Transferred appointments, are not counted. A transferred appointment occurs when the patient will see a different clinician (to whom the appointment has been ‘transferred’), but the appointment date and time remains exactly the same.
4. When HCS or the patient cancel the appointment, a new appointment will be given at the next available slot in relation to the urgency of the patient’s referral.
5. HCS encourages all patients to inform the specialty service with as much notice as possible to ensure the slot can be re-allocated to someone else on the waiting list. If a patient requires a different date or time, they can find information on how to inform HCS in their appointment letter. Work is ongoing to ensure patients are given a new appointment slot with a letter being sent to the patient with the new details.

Grand Care Group  Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct  Total -Reason for cancellation (please see

further notes above)

Dental  55  53  49  29  50  50  51  42  40  41  460 Covid-19  1  0  0  1  3  0  0  0  0  0  5 Cancelled by Service  16  8  9  5  13  8  11  11  8  2  91 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  38  45  40  23  34  42  40  31  32  39  364 Medical Services  564  525  623  541  700  723  691  613  635  700  6314 Covid-19  19  4  7  2  2  2  8  5  2  3  54 Reason not recorded  33  30  38  20  35  32  29  32  38  35  322 Cancelled by Service  294  288  305  284  420  470  396  351  332  416  3556 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  218  203  273  235  243  219  258  225  263  246  2383 Surgical Services  790  854  985  720  783  990  967  878  1001  840  8808 Covid-19  40  15  14  3  2  12  23  5  5  2  121 Reason not recorded  19  20  18  13  22  21  10  22  17  31  193 Cancelled by Service  252  309  345  245  306  433  324  351  421  284  3270 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  479  510  608  459  453  524  610  500  558  523  5224 Therapies  724  848  1060  701  781  833  845  729  927  883  8331 Covid-19  11  3  4  6  1  3  9  5  2  3  47 Reason not recorded  9  1  10  7  16  12  9  2  14  14  94 Cancelled by Service  143  271  362  211  187  283  382  338  438  301  2916 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  561  573  684  477  577  535  445  384  473  565  5274 Women & Children Services  439  389  460  416  470  446  515  402  510  469  4516 Covid-19  9  8  19  7  0  5  6  0  7  3  64 Reason not recorded  1  0  3  2  1  4  7  3  3  2  26 Cancelled by Service  190  171  210  185  215  186  220  191  262  216  2046 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  239  210  228  222  254  251  282  208  238  248  2380 Other  250  195  216  173  153  219  193  174  179  156  1908 Covid-19  3  6  3  0  2  1  2  1  3  0  21 Reason not recorded  3  3  1  4  4  2  4  4  2  5  32

Cancelled by Service  95  80  68  48  54  71  76  49  44  55  640 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  149  106  144  121  93  145  111  120  130  96  1215

 

Grand Total	2822		2864		3393		2580		2937		3260	3262		2837	3292  3088	30338
Data Source: Hospital Patient Administration System (TrakCare, Outpatient Report BKG1A).		Jan		Feb	Mar	Apr		May		Jun	Jul  Aug		Sep  Oct

Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  1684  1647  1977  1537  1654  1716  1746  1468  1694  1717  16840 Cancelled by Service  990  1127  1299  978  1195  1451  1409  1291  1505  1274  12519 Covid-19  83  36  47  19  10  23  48  16  19  11  312 Reason not recorded  65  54  70  46  78  71  59  63  74  87  667 Grand Total  2822  2864  3393  2580  2937  3261  3262  2838  3292  3089  30338 Data Source: Hospital Patient Administration System (TrakCare, Outpatient Report BKG1A).