Failed appointments – do telephone reminders always work?

This audit was undertaken to determine whether there would be a decrease in failed appointments (did not attend DNA) from an average of 26 per cent over the previous nine months, by telephoning patients the day before their appointments as a reminder. The audit took place at a Community Dental Clinic in an area of high socio‐economic need. Of the 214 people telephoned during the six week audit period, 131 were contacted and 7 per cent failed their appointments, but the failure rate for the 83 people who could not be contacted was 43 per cent. It is probable that the overall DNA rate would have been considerably higher without this audit. However, the trend of failed appointments did not improve compared with the previous nine months. The reasons for failed appointments are complex but this audit has resulted in a change of protocol for clinics dealing with failed appointments. The issue of estimating the cost of missed appointments in a salaried service is difficult due to the lack of easily accessible treatment‐specific costs.