Background: Did Not Attends (DNAs) lead to wasted clinical time as well as increased waiting list times, putting further strain on services. NHS England in February 2023 published the ‘Reducing did not attends in outpatient services’ document, which stated that ‘of the 103 million outpatient appointments booked in 2021/22, 7.6% ended in a ‘Did Not Attend’. The objective of this audit was to assess and compare the DNA rates for Paediatric Dentistry outpatient appointments at Lancashire Hospitals against the national standard of 7.6%.
Method: A total of 3368 paediatric dental appointments were audited across two cycles from 01/09/2022 to 29/02/2024. The data was collected from Business Intelligence and DNA rates were subcategorized into total, new and follow up patients.
Results: Compared to the NHS national average: Total Paediatric DNA
Cycle 1: 2.66 × higher
Cycle 2: 4.0 × higher
Conclusion: The audit revealed that DNA rates in Paediatric Dentistry were above the national standard of 7.6%. Despite interventions between cycle one and two, further actions are required.
