The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Improving outpatient appointments

06/11/2003

New outpatient appointment booking systems, designed to make the process more patient-friendly and aimed at reducing the number of people who do not attend, will be piloted in 18 sites acrossScotland.

Eight NHS Boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service will receive £780,000 to set up pilot systems known as Partial Booking Systems.

This will change the way patients receive their outpatient appointment and introduce an element of choice. It will mean that the patient will be asked to contact the hospital to agree an appointment that suits them rather than simply offered an appointment on a take it or leave it basis.

Deputy Health Minister Tom McCabe said:

"This will provide benefits to patients with improved access, improved choice, improved quality of information and ultimately, shorter waiting times.

"For the patient the ability to negotiate a convenient date and time to attend for their outpatient appointment is a massive improvement on the current system. It means that patients can agree a time that suits them rather than being allocated an available slot.

"We know from evidence that giving the patient a say in when their appointment will be, leads to greater patient satisfaction and reduces the number of people who fail to attend their outpatient appointment to one in twenty."

The Minister also pointed out that it will also be good for staff and NHSScotland as a whole.

He continued:

"These new systems will help reduce the number of patients who do not turn up for appointments. It should mean having fewer cancelled and rescheduled appointments and the opportunity to fill cancelled slots.

"For NHSScotland staff and particularly those who are involved in running and managing outpatient services and booking appointments, this change to partial booking offers the opportunity of a more positive interaction with patients."

NHS organisations involved in the pilots have also given a commitment to share the learning and good practice which emerges from their projects - both within their own organisation and more widely within NHSScotland.

This is the first wave of pilots. The next round of bidding for resources for phase two will be in January 2004.

The allocations are as follows:

There are more than 10 million attendances per year in outpatient clinics inScotland.

A recent AuditScotlandreported calculated that one in seven people fail to attend - did not attend (DNA) for their appointment at an estimated total cost of £20 million per year.

By December 2005 no patient will wait longer than 26 weeks for a first outpatient appointment.

This work is part of the outpatient action plan which was launched by the Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm in June 2003.