Horizon Health Network halves missed appointments

The Horizon Health Network says its campaign to reduce missed hospital appointments is working.

Horizon says there has been about a 50per cent reduction in missed appointments since it launched an education campaign last year, but there are still many people not showing up for tests.

The New Brunswick Medical Society says missed appointments have real consequences.

Last month, 238 patients failed to show up for a booked appointment at the X-ray department at The Moncton Hospital.

In 2014, Horizon started a campaign to cut those numbers, putting up signsand producing a commercial.

Dr. John Whelan,the incoming president of the New BrunswickMedical Society,says a 2013 review found 5.5 per cent of all patients missed appointments throughout the system.

Increases costs to health-care system

"They tended to miss in asthma clinic, clinical, nutrition and in the X-ray department and ultrasound and mammography," he said.

Whelan is a radiologist and says procedures like ultrasound and mammogram often have the longest wait times.

"If they miss appointments they would put themselves in jeopardy by maybe getting sicker or maybe getting a delay in diagnosis," he said.

That also increases costs to the health-care system if patients need more treatment. It stops other patients from getting earlier treatment.

Whelan says patients are called as a reminder before some tests.

"They just forget. I think it's up to us and them both to do more to try to do a better job of getting patients there.They're always going to be some patients that forget."