70,000-plus outpatient appointments retimed

More than 70,000 outpatient appointments were cancelled and re-arranged by hospitals in Dudley in 12 months, figures show.

Health bosses have been piloting a new system to try to cut the number of cancellations.

It will now be rolled out across all departments. In 2010-11 there were a total of 675,020 appointments scheduled to take place at Russells Hall and the Guest hospitals in Dudley and the Corbett in Stourbridge. During the same period, 73,366 slots were rescheduled.

Around 40 per cent of those cancelled were with less than six weeks' notice.

Under the trial, appointments were "partially boo-ked" so that patients put on a waiting list are invited to contact the trust six weeks before they should be seen.

Health chiefs say this is the best way to reduce the number of cancellations.

The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust's community services director Tessa Norris said in a report: "Rescheduling of appointments is a concern and inconvenience to our patients.

"The findings from the initial pilot were positive and, as a result, the recommendation has now been made to implement partial booking for all specialities across the trust, using a phased approach.

"If approved, this programme of work will result in all 23 specialities at DGFT partially booking follow-up appointments by the summer of 2013," she added.

A report on the new scheme will go before Dudley Council's health and adult social care scrutiny committee on Thursday when members will discuss the proposals.

Hospital bosses are also working to reduce the number of patients who fail to attend for their appointments, after a total of 44,696 slots were missed during 2010-11, costing the trust around £3.9m. An automated phone call service now issues reminders to patients ahead of hospital appointments to cut the number of missed dates.

The number of rescheduled appointments has risen over the last two years.