Nearly 40,000 Black Country GP appointments were wasted in September when patients didn't attend
Almost 40,000 GP appointments were missed by patients in the Black Country in September, new data has revealed.
The latest figures by NHS England illustrate the number of GP appointments across the country which were recorded as "attended", "did not attend" and "unknown".
The data showed that more than 630,000 appointments were delivered in the Black Country in September across the 173 GP practices included in the study.
However, 39,437 of these appointments were recorded as "did not attend", which indicates that a patient did not attend and did not cancel so the slot was unable to be rebooked by the practice.
In light of the findings, the NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) has launched a survey in order to understand why patients may not cancel appointments that are no longer needed.
Sarb Basi, director of primary care for the NHS ICB, said: "We know that missing appointments is not something people do intentionally. However, at a time when demand on NHS services is at an all-time high, it is very important that GP appointment slots are not going to waste.
"It might not seem like a big deal to miss a 10-minute appointment, but the unintended consequences are that other patients who may really need care can’t access it when they need to and are being kept waiting longer.
"That’s why it’s important that we understand the reasons why patients might have missed their appointment, to provide us with an opportunity to take action to address them.
"The survey is designed to give patients the opportunity to feed back about their experiences of cancelling a GP appointment, the reasons why their appointment was no longer needed and what measures they think could help reduce missed appointments.
"It’s completely anonymous and the best way to share your views, even if you haven’t visited your GP practice recently.
"I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind people to please make every effort to cancel any GP appointments that are no longer needed, so somebody else can have the slot."
The survey will see patients asked about their previous experiences with cancelling appointments, what measures they believe should be put in place to help with this and why they may not have been present.
Those registered with a GP practice in the region can complete the survey by visiting the NHS ICB website.
