Background: The reasons underlying prolonged waiting lists for surgery in Ireland are multifactorial. Patient-related factors including non-attendances contribute in part to the current waiting times.
Aims: To determine the rate of short notice cancellation for day case surgery in a model 2 HSE hospital over a 1-month period and to implement an intervention to try and reduce the rate of cancellation.
Methods: The cancellation rate was documented over a 1-month period in the hospital. An intervention was then implemented, involving a phone call to the patient from a member of the surgical team to attempt to reduce the cancellation rate. Cancellations were re-audited after the implementation of the phone intervention.
Results: The initial audit revealed a cancellation rate of 39.7% during the first month prior to implementation of the phone intervention. A phone call intervention from a member of the surgical team was associated with a decrease in cancellations from 39.7 to 14.6% (p < 0.01).
Conclusions: While cancellations remained high even after our intervention, a simple phone call was effective and more than halved our cancellation rate. Future efforts need to focus on increasing awareness of patient responsibility for attending scheduled appointments and procedures.
Keywords: Audit; Patient factors; Quality improvement; Service provision; Waiting lists.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.