• Brian O'Riordan, Ian S Reynolds, Daniel Hechtl, Frederik P Lecot, Shobhit Arya, Justin Geoghegan, and Rory Kennelly.
• Department of Surgery, St Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, Ireland. b.oriordan5@gmail.com.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2023 Apr 1; 192 (2): 807810807-810.

BackgroundThe reasons underlying prolonged waiting lists for surgery in Ireland are multifactorial. Patient-related factors including non-attendances contribute in part to the current waiting times.AimsTo determine the rate of short notice cancellation for day case surgery in a model 2 HSE hospital over a 1-month period and to implement an intervention to try and reduce the rate of cancellation.MethodsThe cancellation rate was documented over a 1-month period in the hospital. An intervention was then implemented, involving a phone call to the patient from a member of the surgical team to attempt to reduce the cancellation rate. Cancellations were re-audited after the implementation of the phone intervention.ResultsThe initial audit revealed a cancellation rate of 39.7% during the first month prior to implementation of the phone intervention. A phone call intervention from a member of the surgical team was associated with a decrease in cancellations from 39.7 to 14.6% (p < 0.01).ConclusionsWhile cancellations remained high even after our intervention, a simple phone call was effective and more than halved our cancellation rate. Future efforts need to focus on increasing awareness of patient responsibility for attending scheduled appointments and procedures.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

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