The way hospitals in the UK run outpatient clinic appointments is stuck "in the 18th Century", leading doctors say. Every year millions of people travel to hospitals, where doctors check up on their health and discuss their care. The Royal College of Physicians said many appointments were unnecessary - and outdated, inefficient systems meant large numbers were missed or cancelled.
The way hospitals in the UK run outpatient clinic appointments is stuck "in the 18th Century", leading doctors say. Every year millions of people travel to hospitals, where doctors check up on their health and discuss their care. The Royal College of Physicians said many appointments were unnecessary - and outdated, inefficient systems meant large numbers were missed or cancelled.
It said the situation was frustrating for patients, and wasting money. The RCP's report said the time had come to overhaul the system by embracing innovation: making more use of remote monitoring and telephone and video consultations. Getting other staff, such as senior nurses, to run clinics closer to people's homes could also help. It said a number of places had already started taking these steps, but much more needed to be done.
Dr Toby Hillman, of the RCP, said: "It's an 18th Century system. It should not be beyond us to tackle this." Outpatient departments are the busiest part of hospitals in terms of the numbers seen. Last year there were 127 million appointments in the UK - nearly five times more than the numbers who came to A&E.
Patients come in to discuss their health as part of their ongoing care, or may see their doctor to discuss their recovery from surgery. or before they go under the knife. The report pointed out these appointments can require a significant amount of time, cost and planning for patients because of things like travel, missing work and arranging childcare. But in England one in five appointments is cancelled, or patients do not turn up. Some of the cancellations are unavoidable, because of sickness or emergencies requiring staff to be deployed elsewhere.
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