Cargando…

Assessing DNA rates within first time psychiatric referrals and the extent to which DNA rates are reduced by an SMS reminder service

AIMS: 1) To assess the average wait time for patients to be offered an appointment and to establish any correlations between longer waiting times and 'Did not attend (DNA)' rates 2) To assess the number of patients who have opted into the text message appointment reminder service and wheth...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Coates, Henry
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cambridge University Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8771773/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.831
_version_ 1784635687435239424
author Coates, Henry
author_facet Coates, Henry
author_sort Coates, Henry
collection PubMed
description AIMS: 1) To assess the average wait time for patients to be offered an appointment and to establish any correlations between longer waiting times and 'Did not attend (DNA)' rates 2) To assess the number of patients who have opted into the text message appointment reminder service and whether this had an effect on DNA rates. BACKGROUND: Research has indicated that the Did Not Attend (DNA) rate in Psychiatry is estimated at 20%, twice that of other medical specialties (1). With NHS Digital estimating that DNAs cost the NHS £1 Billion per annum, there has been much interest in reducing the rate of DNAs within Psychiatry (2). Findings have shown that short waiting times are associated with higher rates of attendance (3). In addition, poor appointment attendance within Psychiatry is also associated with increased disease severity and higher rates of hospital admission (4). METHOD: We conducted retrospective data collection on 99 patients referred to Professor Oyebode between January 2018 and August 2019. Our data collection involved assessing time the referral was received, time to first appointment and the patient's communication preference (e.g. whether they opted in to the SMS alert service). All data collection was conducted through use of RIO and coded/ammonized into a Excel spreadsheet. No sampling methods were employed and our population only consisted of first-time referrals to Professor Oyebodes clinic. RESULT: 1) We found no correlation between a longer waiting time to first appointment and an increased DNA rate. 2) All patient waiting times between 1st January - 31st August were within the maximum limit set by national guidelines 3) Opting into the text messaging service remains severely low. Of the patients audited, 95% had not completed a communication preference form. Overall, it is still unclear whether the text messaging service has a positive impact on DNA rates. CONCLUSION: Our data have shown no significant correlation between a longer waiting time and an increased DNA rate for first time Psychiatry appointments. Secondly, we have concluded that between the audited period, waiting times were still within the maximum 18 week wait set by the Mental Health Standards. Finally, we can conclude that uptake of the text messaging service remains very low at 4%. Due to a limited sample size of only 4 patients, it is still unclear from this audit whether opting into the text messaging services will have a positive decrease on the number of DNA's.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8771773
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Cambridge University Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-87717732022-01-31 Assessing DNA rates within first time psychiatric referrals and the extent to which DNA rates are reduced by an SMS reminder service Coates, Henry BJPsych Open Service Evaluation AIMS: 1) To assess the average wait time for patients to be offered an appointment and to establish any correlations between longer waiting times and 'Did not attend (DNA)' rates 2) To assess the number of patients who have opted into the text message appointment reminder service and whether this had an effect on DNA rates. BACKGROUND: Research has indicated that the Did Not Attend (DNA) rate in Psychiatry is estimated at 20%, twice that of other medical specialties (1). With NHS Digital estimating that DNAs cost the NHS £1 Billion per annum, there has been much interest in reducing the rate of DNAs within Psychiatry (2). Findings have shown that short waiting times are associated with higher rates of attendance (3). In addition, poor appointment attendance within Psychiatry is also associated with increased disease severity and higher rates of hospital admission (4). METHOD: We conducted retrospective data collection on 99 patients referred to Professor Oyebode between January 2018 and August 2019. Our data collection involved assessing time the referral was received, time to first appointment and the patient's communication preference (e.g. whether they opted in to the SMS alert service). All data collection was conducted through use of RIO and coded/ammonized into a Excel spreadsheet. No sampling methods were employed and our population only consisted of first-time referrals to Professor Oyebodes clinic. RESULT: 1) We found no correlation between a longer waiting time to first appointment and an increased DNA rate. 2) All patient waiting times between 1st January - 31st August were within the maximum limit set by national guidelines 3) Opting into the text messaging service remains severely low. Of the patients audited, 95% had not completed a communication preference form. Overall, it is still unclear whether the text messaging service has a positive impact on DNA rates. CONCLUSION: Our data have shown no significant correlation between a longer waiting time and an increased DNA rate for first time Psychiatry appointments. Secondly, we have concluded that between the audited period, waiting times were still within the maximum 18 week wait set by the Mental Health Standards. Finally, we can conclude that uptake of the text messaging service remains very low at 4%. Due to a limited sample size of only 4 patients, it is still unclear from this audit whether opting into the text messaging services will have a positive decrease on the number of DNA's. Cambridge University Press 2021-06-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8771773/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.831 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Service Evaluation
Coates, Henry
Assessing DNA rates within first time psychiatric referrals and the extent to which DNA rates are reduced by an SMS reminder service
title Assessing DNA rates within first time psychiatric referrals and the extent to which DNA rates are reduced by an SMS reminder service
title_full Assessing DNA rates within first time psychiatric referrals and the extent to which DNA rates are reduced by an SMS reminder service
title_fullStr Assessing DNA rates within first time psychiatric referrals and the extent to which DNA rates are reduced by an SMS reminder service
title_full_unstemmed Assessing DNA rates within first time psychiatric referrals and the extent to which DNA rates are reduced by an SMS reminder service
title_short Assessing DNA rates within first time psychiatric referrals and the extent to which DNA rates are reduced by an SMS reminder service
title_sort assessing dna rates within first time psychiatric referrals and the extent to which dna rates are reduced by an sms reminder service
topic Service Evaluation
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8771773/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2021.831
work_keys_str_mv AT coateshenry assessingdnarateswithinfirsttimepsychiatricreferralsandtheextenttowhichdnaratesarereducedbyansmsreminderservice