No show patients increase waiting times at Derbyshire Dales surgeries

Thousands of patients in the Dales failed to show up for doctor’s appointments so far this year – according to new figures.
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NHS Hardwick and North Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) revealed 3,659 appointments were missed in the first five months of year in the north Dales area, which covers Matlock, Bakewell and Bradwell.

As each appointment is around 10 minutes, the number of missed appointments equate to 610 hours of wasted time. Health chiefs are now urging patients to let their surgery know as soon as possible if they are unable to make an appointment.

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Dr Ben Milton, chairman of NHS North Derbyshire CCG, who is based at Darley Dale Surgery, said: “These staggering figures show that thousands of patients are being kept waiting for appointments. The sooner we can see our patients, the sooner we can put their minds at rest by setting them on the road to treatment and recovery.”

The figure makes up a total of 23,185 no shows from January to May this year for doctors appointments across the north Derbyshire area.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust revealed 6,920 patients failed to attend outpatient appointments in the five months to the end of March.