Tararua Health Group records 227 Dannevirke Community Hospital missed appointments in a month

Tararua Health Group is urging people to cancel appointments if they’re no longer needed after figures revealed a staggering 227 no-shows in November.

The Dannevirke Community Hospital recorded the no-warning cancellations after appointments were made to see doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners.

Cancellations, which have been attributed to long wait times and people no longer needing an appointment or simply forgetting, were placing pressure on an already strained system, operations manager David Ireland said.

The current wait time to get an appointment sits at six to eight weeks, and when Hawke’s Bay Today tried to book an appointment the next available date was February 15, 2024.

Ireland said he was fed up with the lack of communication and believed it comes down to patients’ “personal responsibility”.

Tararua Health Group operations manager David Ireland said no-shows were an ongoing problem.

He understood patients may forget or no longer need to see a doctor, but urged people to let staff know.

“It has been an ongoing problem for a while and the numbers have been steady,” he said.

In the week spanning November 6 to 12, there were 57 cancellations, and 67 the following week.

Ireland said it was a “pattern of behaviour from the community” that increased wait times and took valuable resources from others.

A text reminder is sent the night before an appointment and cancellations can be done up to more than an hour beforehand, but anything less than an hour’s notice would incur a fee.

He said it can be detrimental if patients decide not to see a doctor as it could cause long-term and ongoing issues if not seen.

Tararua district councillor and community development and wellbeing committee chairwoman, Alison Franklin, said she was shocked at the number of cancellations.

After she was made aware of the cancellation numbers she decided to do something about it.

“If you have got a sign on the wall in here (the health centre) it’s all well and good, however, you are preaching to the converted because the people in here have turned up to their appointments,” she said.

She hoped awareness of the issue and the pressures faced by the Health Group would lead to fewer no-shows.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.