• Poul-Erik Kofoed, Lene Mølgaard Hansen, and Jette Ammentorp.
• Kolding Sygehus/IRS, Syddansk Universitet, Forskningsinitiativet for Sundhedstjenesteforskning, Paediatrisk Afdeling. poul.erik.kofoed@fks.regionsyddanmark.dk
• Ugeskr. Laeg. 2009 Apr 20;171(17):1379-83.

IntroductionIt is important to identify reasons for non-attendance and late cancellations in the health care system to be able to plan possible interventions.MethodPatients with a scheduled visit at the outpatient clinic at the Department of Paediatrics at Kolding Hospital from September 2002 to February 2003 were randomised either to receive or not receive a mailed reminder two weeks prior to their visit. Parents to children cancelling their appointment or not attending were interviewed by telephone to reveal the reasons. >Early cancellations< were defined as cancellations after receiving the letter and until the last weekday before the appointment, >late cancellations< as any subsequent cancellations.ResultsA total of 229 and 250 >early cancellations< of the 2.563 and 2.775 booked appointments were received in the control- and the intervention group, respectively (p > 0.05). Only for >forgot the appointment<, a difference was found between the reasons given. >Late cancellation< and non-attendance occurred for 167/1,177 and 68/1,189 (p < 0,01) of the children. For 118 and 36 (p < 0.01) of these, the reasons given by the parents could be classified as predictable, and 34/1,177 and 27/1,189, respectively as non-predictable (p = 0.4).ConclusionIn the control group more than 70% of late cancellations and non-attendances could have been predicted by the parents, receiving a mailed reminder reduced this proportion significantly. It remains a challenge to reduce the number of non-Danish speaking patients not attending.

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