Keeping appointments with clinical psychologists

Over a six-month period records were kept of appointment keeping by out-patients attending clinical psychologists. Background information was recorded. Approximately 20 per cent of appointments were cancelled or broken, and in a further 6 per cent patients arrived late. Compliance was significantly but not strongly related to sex, social class, marital and family factors, transport, diagnosis and amount of previous attendance. Patients who missed the first appointment were very likely to miss the second. The results were consistent with previous findings and suggestions are made for further investigation.