Cancel GP appointments if you don’t need it

CLYDESDALE residents are being urged to cancel GP appointments if they do not need them – to free up appointments for other patients.
Missed appointments...at Carluke Health CentreMissed appointments...at Carluke Health Centre
Missed appointments...at Carluke Health Centre

The call came from Clydesdale Locality Public Partnership Forum member Bill Angus, whose organisation acts as a buffer between the NHS and the public.

Bill told the Gazette that he was shocked when he discovered that his own doctors surgery had more than 400 Do Not Attend (DNA) appointments over the space of three months between November 2014 and January 2015.

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Bill said: “Surely, in this age of simple communications, we can phone or contact our surgery to cancel appointments.

“We seem to be able to complain if we have to wait a few days for an appointment or wait a few minutes in the waiting room to see a doctor or nurse.

“The NHS constantly changes for the better to meet the needs of the population, despite the financial restraints laid down by government.

“It can only effectively change with help and input.

“We are all patients and the Do Not Attends are only a small part of this but if we, the public, can help, it is a step in the right direction.”

For more on this story pick up a copy of this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette, which is in the shops now.

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