A ‘DNA’ (Did Not Attend) is an occasion on which a patient does not attend a booked appointment with a member of the practice team without contacting the surgery to cancel prior to the appointment time.

The loss of this clinical time has a detrimental effect on the service that we provide to patients, and we wish to keep this to a minimum. We feel that it is reasonable to ask patients to let us know in advance if they do not intend or are not able to keep their appointment. Patients who are experiencing ongoing difficulties in keeping their appointments should discuss this with the surgery.

The surgery reserves the right to remove patients from the practice list if they DNA three appointments within a 12 month period.
When a patient does not attend an appointment without giving advance notice the doctor will code the missed appointment on the patient record. This generates a DNA letter that is sent to the patient.

If you repeatedly fail to attend for appointments you may be removed from the Practice list and have to find an alternative GP practice.

No patient will be removed from the practice list without due consideration of their individual circumstances and reasons for non-attendance. The purpose of this policy is not to penalise patients with valid medical reasons for non-attendance.

If the practice is aware of special circumstances surrounding a patient’s non-attendance, for example, patients who have been admitted to hospital or have dementia, the medical team reserve the right to exclude the patient from management under this policy.

Patients concerned regarding their management under this policy or who are having problems attending should speak to the surgery. Lack of organisation or forgetting is not an acceptable reason for non-attendance.