Medical appointment cancellations

WQ.15/2023

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES

BY DEPUTY M.B. ANDREWS OF ST. HELIER NORTH

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 23rd JANUARY 2023

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 30th JANUARY 2023

Question

“Will the Minister state the total number of cancelled medical appointments in 2022?”

Answer

The table below shows the Outpatient Clinic appointments cancelled or rescheduled each month between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 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.

This answer is an update of a previously asked question: WQ.312/2022. Small variation in numbers is as expected – for example there are data quality validations and corrections reflected in the latest data.

The 15,583 appointments recorded as “Cancelled by service” is 5% of the total appointments across the year. There were 236,023 outpatient appointments attended and 17,783 appointments where patients did not attend without giving any notice. These are monitored weekly at the Outpatient Improvement Group chaired by the Director of Clinical Services.

Notes:

1. “Medical appointments” hasbeen 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 Basor 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. ifthe status has been set to 'Not Attended', this canbefurther categorised by reason, whichcanbe

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

1. Appointment cancelled by oronbehalfof 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 ensurethe slot can be re-allocated to someone else onthe 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 senttothe patient with the new details.

Care Group  Month  

2022 Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec  Total

- Reason for Cancellation

Dental  55  53  49  29  50  50  51  42  40  41  53  49  562 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  38  45  40  23  34  42  40  31  32  39  43  33  440 Cancelled by Service  16  8  9  5  13  8  11  11  8  2  10  16  117 Covid-19  1  1  3  5 Medical Services  566  525  623  551  702  729  692  619  639  707  820  705  7878 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  220  203  273  241  244  225  260  229  264  249  251  272  2931 Cancelled by Service  294  288  305  288  421  470  395  353  335  420  534  396  4499 Covid-19  19  4  7  2  2  2  8  5  2  3  3  8  65 Reason not recorded  33  30  38  20  35  32  29  32  38  35  32  29  383 Surgical Services  791  854  984  720  783  989  967  878  1001  841  930  917  10637 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  479  510  607  459  453  524  610  500  558  524  544  503  6271 Cancelled by Service  253  309  345  245  306  432  324  351  421  284  356  367  3993 Covid-19  40  15  14  3  2  12  23  5  5  2  3  20  144 Reason not recorded  19  20  18  13  22  21  10  22  17  31  27  27  247 Therapies  724  848  1060  701  781  833  845  729  928  883  871  1103  10306 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  561  573  684  477  577  535  445  384  473  565  618  627  6519 Cancelled by Service  143  271  362  211  187  283  382  338  439  301  221  439  3577 Covid-19  11  3  4  6  1  3  9  5  2  3  1  4  52 Reason not recorded  9  1  10  7  16  12  9  2  14  14  31  33  158 Women & Children Services  439  390  460  416  470  444  514  403  512  470  513  580  5610 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  239  210  228  222  254  250  281  209  237  249  236  225  2840 Cancelled by Service  190  171  210  185  215  185  220  191  265  216  276  350  2674 Covid-19  9  8  19  7  5  6  7  3  3  67 Reason not recorded  1  1  3  2  1  4  7  3  3  2  1  2  30 Other  250  195  216  173  153  219  193  174  179  157  182  178  2269 Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  149  106  144  121  93  145  111  120  130  97  133  141  1490 Cancelled by Service  95  80  68  48  54  71  76  49  44  55  47  36  723

Covid-19  3  6  3  2  1  2  1  3  21 Reason not recorded  3  3  1  4  4  2  4  4  2  5  2  1  35 Grand Total  2825  2865  3392  2590  2939  3264  3262  2845  3299  3099  3369  3532  37281

Month  

2022 Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec  Total

Reason for Cancellation

Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient  1686  1647  1976  1543  1655  1721  1747  1473  1694  1723  1825  1801  20491 Cancelled by Service  991  1127  1299  982  1196  1449  1408  1293  1512  1278  1444  1604  15583 Covid-19  83  36  47  19  10  23  48  16  19  11  7  35  354 Reason not recorded  65  55  70  46  78  71  59  63  74  87  93  92  853 Grand Total  2825  2865  3392  2590  2939  3264  3262  2845  3299  3099  3369  4489  37281

Data Source: Hospital Patient Administration System (TrakCare, Outpatient Report BKG1A)