13.02.13
One in six men miss hospital appointments
Young men are significantly more likely to fail to attend a hospital appointment than women of the same age, new data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) shows.
Male hospital outpatients aged 20-29 failed to attend one in six (15.8%) appointments in the year to October 2012. This compares to just one in 11 (9.2%) Did Not Attends (DNAs) for women in the same age group.
A similar pattern is evident for the 30-39 age group and men are more likely to DNA across all age groups.
Of 92.9 million outpatient appointments in total last year, 80.1% were attended. This leaves 19.9% which could be due to patient or hospital cancellations, or DNAs. London Strategic Health Authority had the highest number of DNAs at 9.5%, while East of England SHA had the smallest at 5.8%.
HSCIC chief executive Tim Straughan said: “While missed outpatient appointments are evident across every age group, it appears men in their 20s are the chart-toppers for not turning up to these.
“Our figures show however that the general percentage of outpatient appointments missed across the country has decreased slightly. Managing DNAs is one way the NHS can increase productivity.”
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