Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T12:19:03.101Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Attendance rate in an alcohol problem clinic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Imad M. Ali  and
Andrew J. McBride
Imad M. Ali*
Affiliation:
Gwent Community Health NHS Trust Talygam County Hospital, Griffithstown, Pontypool Gwent
Andrew J. McBride
Affiliation:
Community Addiction Unit Cardiff Community Healthcare, NHS Trust, Whitchurch Hospital, Whitchurch, Cardiff
*
∗Correspondence
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The high rate of non-attendance for first appointments at psychiatric clinics is wasteful of health service resources. Previous studies have demonstrated reductions in the non-attendance rates when referred patients were asked to contact the clinic to confirm that they wished to be seen before an appointment was sent. The effect of introducing such a process to a community based alcohol service was investigated. Results showed that although there was a reduction in the non-attendance rate, the overall effect was to discourage patients from attending the clinic, resulting in a large reduction in the proportion of all referrals seen. Alternative approaches are discussed.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 21 , Issue 6 , June 1997 , pp. 343 - 345
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (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.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Addenbrooke, W. M. & Rathod, N. N. (1990) Relationship between waiting time and retention in treatment amongst substance abusers. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 26, 255–264.Google Scholar
Baggaley, M. (1993) Improving the attendance for new psychiatric out-patient referrals. Psychiatric Bulletin, 17, 347–348.Google Scholar
Cottrell, D., Dearnaley, J., Hill, P., et al (1988) Factors influencing non-attendance at child psychiatry outpatient appointments. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 201–204.Google Scholar
Davison, P. S. (1992) Hand-written appointment letters. Psychiatric Bulletin, 16, 179.Google Scholar
Goldbeck, R. (1993) Can a card mailing system help to reduce the waiting list at an alcohol problems clinic? Psychiatric Bulletin, 17, 597–598.Google Scholar
Gould, M. S., Kaplan, D. & Shaeffer, D. (1985) The characteristics of dropouts from a child psychiatric clinic. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 316–328.Google Scholar
Hillis, G. & Alexander, D. A. (1990) Rejection of psychiatric treatment. Psychiatric Bulletin, 14, 149–150.Google Scholar
Mathai, J. & Markantonakis, A. (1990) Improving initial attendance to a child and family psychiatric clinic. Psychiatric Bulletin, 14, 151–152.Google Scholar
Plunkett, J. W. (1984) Parents' treatment expectations and attrition from a child psychiatric service. Clinical Psychology, 40, 372–377.Google Scholar
Rusius, C. W. (1995) Improving out-patient attendance using postal appointment reminders. Psychiatric Bulletin, 19, 291–292.Google Scholar
Skuse, D. (1975) Attitudes to the psychiatric out-patient clinic. British Medical Journal, 3, 469–471.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.