Psychiatric Bulletin (2008) 32: 458-460. doi: 10.1192/pb.bp.108.020065
© 2008 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Out-patient appointments: a necessary evil? A literature review and survey of patient attendance records

Reuven Manfred Magnes, Specialist Registrar in Adult Psychiatry

City and Hackney Centre for Mental Health, Homerton Row, London E9 6SR, UK, email: r.magnes{at}nhs.net

Declaration of interest

None.

AIMS AND METHOD

To describe the effect of a postal reminder system on UK adult psychiatry clinic attendance. A literature review was completed and a serial cross-sectional survey of patient attendance records in an inner-city psychiatric hospital during 2006 and 2007 was undertaken.

RESULTS

A simple postal prompt reduces non-attendance by up to 50% and data from the serial cross-sectional survey of attendance records (n=36) powered at 77% supported this finding. Postal prompts in the survey accounted for 30% improvement in the variance (r2).

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

A simple postal prompt that takes less than 30 s to read, sent up to 2 weeks prior to the appointment improves attendance by up to 50% and is useful for maintaining standards of excellence.




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Outpatients: a necessary evil?
MacDara H McCauley, et al.
PB Online, 10 Feb 2009 [Full text]