Did Not Answer Policy

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Introduction

‘Did Not Answer policy’ (DNA), is where the patient does not answer their telephone when they have booked an appointment with a GP or other clinician.

What to expect from our GP or clinician when booking a telephone /email appointment

When you book a telephone / email / video appointment with a GP or clinician, your name is added to their patient list for the day. You are asked to record your up to date telephone number, when best to contact you, and the nature of your enquiry.

Clinicians often have 40 or more calls to make in one day and they will do their very best to contact you as near to your scheduled time as they can, but there may be delays in the event of a medical emergency.

On most days we contact patients back the same day, rarely calls must be delayed until the next working day. We do NOT respond to calls booked onto the system when the surgery is shut, although we do prioritise these calls the next day. Sometimes clinicians chose to message patients instead of calling them when an answer appears straightforward.

You can imagine it is extremely frustrating both for patients and staff when patients do not answer their arranged calls.

It is important that you keep your phone with you AND ON at all times to ensure you don’t miss your booked appointment.

Calls start from the surgery from 8:00am and may continue until 6:30pm.

The GP or Nurse may call you with No Caller ID or from a non-surgery phone.

What happens if I miss my call?

We understand that calls may be missed from time to time.

If you miss your call the clinician will attempt to you call you once more, if you miss a second call then we ask you to rebook via reception or online booking tool.

If you have opted for a message then the clinician may text or email you, to inform you that you have missed your appointment.

The date and time of your failure to respond to a call will be recorded in your clinical record.

In summary the GP or Nurse will call you twice, if you miss both calls it will be your responsibility to rebook another telephone triage slot.

 In an emergency please contact the surgery direct and do not use the online booking tool.

Please do not ask reception for a specific time as the GP or Nurse workload for that day cannot be predicted.

Thank you for your co-operation

Feb 2023