ArticleBMC family practice2005
Reasons for and consequences of missed appointments in general practice in the UK: questionnaire survey and prospective review of medical records.
Article in BMC family practice, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Which patients miss appointments with general practice and the reasons why: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Pooled it
- Does phone messaging improves tuberculosis treatment success? A systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2020Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of SMS Reminders on Appointment Attendance: a Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical systems · 2016Pooled it
- Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- How effective are short message service reminders at increasing clinic attendance? A meta-analysis and systematic review.Health services research · 2012Pooled it
- Predictors of Specialty Outpatient Palliative Care Utilization Among Persons With Serious Illness.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2024Trial
- Effect of intervention using a messaging app on compliance and duration of treatment in orthodontic patients.Clinical oral investigations · 2016Trial
- Stating Appointment Costs in SMS Reminders Reduces Missed Hospital Appointments: Findings from Two Randomised Controlled Trials.PloS one · 2015Trial
- Barriers to using text message appointment reminders in an HIV clinic.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2014Trial
- Reduction of missed appointments at an urban primary care clinic: a randomised controlled study.BMC family practice · 2010Trial
- Text messaging reminders to reduce non-attendance in chronic disease follow-up: a clinical trial.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2009Trial
- Comparison of an SMS text messaging and phone reminder to improve attendance at a health promotion center: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B · 2008Trial
- [Patient-reported reasons for missed otolaryngology outpatient appointments].Anales del sistema sanitario de Navarra · 2026Observational
- Preferences for Personalized Text Message Appointment Reminders Among Outpatients in a Universal Health System: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Global Predictors of Appointment Non-Adherence in Primary Care Settings: A Systematic Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Sociodemographic determinants of appointment no-show in primary care: a cross-sectional study in Renca Commune, Chile (2022-2023).BMC primary care · 2026Article
- What are we missing? Reflections on the 'problem' of missed appointments in the UK.NIHR open research · 2026Article
- On Missed Appointments: The Ethics of Nonattendance in General Practice.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025Article
- No-Show Rates at a Plastic Surgery Clinic: Insights From Appalachian Healthcare Systems.Cureus · 2025Article
- Understanding the causes of missingness in primary care: a realist review.BMC medicine · 2024Review
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMissed appointments are a common occurrence in primary care in the UK, yet little is known about the reasons for them, or the consequences of missing an appointment. This paper aims to determine the reasons for missed appointments and whether patients who miss an appointment subsequently consult their general practitioner (GP). Secondary aims are to compare psychological morbidity, and the previous appointments with GPs between subjects and a comparison group.
methodsPostal questionnaire survey and prospective medical notes review of adult patients missing an appointment and the comparison group who attended appointments over a three week period in seven general practices in West Yorkshire.
resultsOf the 386 who missed appointments 122 (32%) responded. Of the 386 in the comparison group 223 (58%) responded, resulting in 23 case-control matched pairs with complete data collection. Over 40% of individuals who missed an appointment and participated said that they forgot the appointment and a quarter said that they tried very hard to cancel the appointment or that it was at an inconvenient time. A fifth reported family commitments or being too ill to attend. Over 90% of the patients who missed an appointment subsequently consulted within three months and of these nearly 60% consulted for the stated problem that was going to be presented in the missed consultation. The odds of missing an appointment decreased with increasing age and were greater among those who had missed at least one appointment in the previous 12 months. However, estimates for comparisons between those who missed appointments and the comparison group were imprecise due to the low response rate.
conclusionPatients who miss appointments tend to cite practice factors and their own forgetfulness as the main reasons for doing so, and most attend within three months of a missed appointment. This study highlights a number of implications for future research. More work needs to be done to engage people who miss appointments into research in a meaningful way.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.