NEARLY 60 HOURS of doctors’ time was wasted at a Dunfermline GP practice over the summer due to patient no-shows.

Les Elder, practice manager at the Nethertown Surgery on Elliot Street, told the Press that on one morning this week, people were queuing out of the door trying to get an appointment as three who held a precious slot didn’t even turn up.

Mr Elder said in his 13 years in the role, the problem of patients failing to show up had worsened while demand for appointments had risen.

Surgery staff have been putting up a poster in the waiting room to show how many selfish patients are denying others the opportunity to book.

During the summer months, the equivalent of more than 56 hours of the practice’s doctor and nurse time was wasted.

The number of no-shows was:

June - 82

July - 92 

August - 77 

September - 106 

Total - 357

And latest figures show September was even worse for the surgery with 106 missed appointments. That alone is the equivalent to 25 a week or five a day.

In 2017, there was a total of 1,331 appointments missed, with 873 in 2018 so far.

Mr Elder said: “If you can believe it, we have seen a shift this year but it’s still a problem.

“It is so hard to get an appointment anywhere so that is why we’ve been trying to get the message across by totalling them up.

“You cannot use the time for anything else, so GPs and nurses are just sitting there doing nothing.

“We’re not the only surgery though, everyone has got these problems.

“In September, 18 hours were wasted, on top of the 38 in the previous three months. A GP could have seen other patients if appointments were cancelled.”

Surgeries have made it easier than ever to cancel an appointment, via phone, online, text or app.

“Even if it is just one hour before, patients should cancel, there is still a chance we can fill it,” Mr Elder added.

“There are so many ways to do it there is no reason not to cancel.

“We look at each case individually but if people are persistently not turning up, they ultimately could be taken off our patient list.

“It’s a decision that is discussed fully before but actually the problem is just passed on to somewhere else because they’ll sign up to another surgery.

“I would hope it would be enough to stop them doing that any more though.”

Patients who fail to appear aren’t just booking appointments weeks in advance and then forgetting about them either. In one example Mr Elder shared, a patient had made an appointment on Monday for the following day but then didn’t turn up.

“In my 13 years as a practice manger the problems has got worse. Demand is definitely higher, people want to be seen quicker, but the rate of missed appointments is higher too,” he said.

“To not be able to give patients appointments is frustrating when others are not showing. I don’t know what the solution is but there has got to be someone out there who can fix it.”