Why 100 patients failed to keep an outpatient appointment-audit in a dermatology department

Failure to keep outpatient appointments is common at all clinics and various explanations may be offered. One hundred attending patients who had failed to keep their previous dermatology clinic appointment were asked the reason for their non-attendance. Many and varied reasons were given but illness (28%), and problems related to appointments (33%) were prominent. They were also asked how they had obtained a further appointment. Stricter follow-up of non-attenders by the hospital including informing the GP, and subsequent GP action if necessary, may improve attendance figures.