NBHC Sustainability
December 18, 2018
No shows are patients who don’t bother to show up or call to cancel their appointment. A family practice in St. John’s calculated the total wasted time created by no shows (that could have been used to see patients) to be 571 hours since November 2016 (2,284 no shows). The issue has long been a problem in healthcare in the province and is a cause of growing wait times throughout the healthcare system. The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association, has guidelines for physicians and specialists to deal with no shows and believes regional health authorities should invest in appointment notification systems and other measures to improve adherence to appointments and to remove administrative burden from physician offices.