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WQ.15/2025
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES
BY DEPUTY M.B. ANDREWS OF ST HELIER NORTH
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 27th JANUARY 2025
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 3rd FEBRUARY 2025
Question
"Will the Minister advise how many medical appointments were cancelled by the Department in each of the last five years?"
Answer
The tables below show the total Outpatient Clinic appointments offered and the percentage cancelled or rescheduled each year between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2024. Additionally, the percentage of appointments cancelled or rescheduled are shown broken down by the care group of the appointment.
For the purpose of this question, "Medical appointments" has been interpreted as all General & Acute outpatient medical appointments. As such, the data presented includes Jersey General Hospital, Overdale Hospital, and Enid Quenault activity, as well as clinics in other locations, such as Dental, Le Bas or Springfield.
An appointment is counted as cancelled
- when the Appointment Status in TrakCare/Maxims (the electronic systems that captures appointment slots) has been set to 'Cancelled' or
- if in Trakcare the status had been set to 'Not Attended' and the Reason for cancellation was one of:
- 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.
- Appointment cancelled by patient' Reasons include:
- Appointment cancelled by or on behalf of the patient
- Appointment no longer required
- Appointment no longer required (Pat)
- Appt cancellation informed by 3rd party
- Appt cancelled by patient - awaiting patient contact
- Away from Island/Education/Military/Travel
- Earlier appointment requested
- GP instructions
- Later appointment requested
- Leaving island
- Patient transferred to private care
In Maxims, there is no "Not Attended" classification as there was in TrakCare. Appointments in Maxims are recorded as "Cancelled" or "Did Not Attend". These DNA appointments are not counted as cancellations.
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.
When HCJ 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.
HCJ 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 HCJ in their appointment letter.
This answer is an update of previously asked question: WQ.60/2023. Small variation in numbers is as expected – for example there are data quality validations and corrections reflected in the latest data.
Medical Appointments Cancelled (as per above definitions) by year, Health & Care Jersey
Year | Total cancelled | Total Appts | % Cancelled |
2020 | 30664 | 219413 | 14.0% |
2021 | 29380 | 251672 | 11.7% |
2022 | 37405 | 275560 | 13.6% |
2023 | 38726 | 285158 | 13.6% |
2024 | 31140 | 291022 | 10.7% |
Total | 167315 | 1322825 | 12.7% |
Data Source: Hospital Patient Administration System (TrakCare, Outpatient Report BKG1A and Maxims, Outpatient Report OP014DM)
Percentage of Medical Appointments Cancelled (as per above definitions) by Care Group and year, Health & Care Jersey
Year | Community Services | Medical Services | Other | Surgical Services | Women and Children Services |
2020 | 17.3% | 13.7% | 4.0% | 15.3% | 12.4% |
2021 | 14.3% | 11.5% | 8.2% | 10.0% | 16.0% |
2022 | 17.4% | 13.6% | 11.4% | 10.7% | 17.1% |
2023 | 18.3% | 15.1% | 10.0% | 14.8% | 15.8% |
2024 | 16.9% | 8.8% | 8.2% | 8.8% | 11.0% |
Total | 16.8% | 12.6% | 8.4% | 11.9% | 14.5% |
Data Source: Hospital Patient Administration System (TrakCare, Outpatient Report BKG1A and Maxims, Outpatient Report OP014DM)
Note: Since the previous answer, some services and specialties have moved between Care Groups. All data have been mapped to the current Care Group. In particular, Dental Care is now part of Surgical Services and Therapies Care Group is part of Community Services. 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.
Percentage of Medical Appointments Cancelled (as per above definitions) by Reason and year, Health & Care Jersey
Year | Cancelled by or on behalf of Patient | Cancelled by Service | COVID 19 | Reason not recorded |
2020 | 5.6% | 5.1% | 2.9% 0.3% | |
2021 | 6.4% | 4.8% | 0.1% 0.3% | |
2022 | 7.5% | 5.7% | 0.1% 0.3% | |
2023 | 5.0% | 3.7% | 0.0% 4.8% | |
2024 | 3.5% | 1.7% | 0.0% 5.4% | |
Total | 5.6% | 4.2% | 0.6% 2.2% | |
Data Source: Hospital Patient Administration System (TrakCare, Outpatient Report BKG1A and Maxims, Outpatient Report OP014DM)