No shows still a problem in P.E.I. health system

The numbers of missed diagnostic appointments has fallenslightly since Health PEI started posting the number publicly each month but not as much as government would like.

• Call to cancel: P.E.I. diagnostic staff frustrated with no shows
• Hospital frustrated by no shows for MRI appointments

In June there were 225 missed appointments for such procedures as MRIs, CT scans, mammograms and bone density tests.

Currently, that number averages about 200 a month.

"We think it's been going well," said GailyneMacPherson, provincial director of diagnostic imaging for Health PEI.

"People are outraged that these appointments would go to waste and people wouldn't show up for them so we're pleased about that. It's actually created a lot of talk."

Health PEI has learned some things over the last few months that could help, she said. For instance, some people just don't realize they have an appointment, even though Health PEI sends out a notification letters.

"Some of it's actually our own fault," MacPherson said.

"We started as a group to think about it, and we actually don't ask that people respond to us in any way to say that this is good for them or not good for them," she said. "And with the super mailboxes, we believe people are not checking their mail the way that they used to."

May need to try new ways

MacPherson is asking Health PEI to launcha pilot project to improve communication with patients in an effort to further reduce the number of no-shows.

"Maybe we need two or three different methods of targeting people," she said.

MacPherson wants to see no more than 25 missed appointments a month, or about one per day, saying the missed appointments add up to longer wait times for everyone's tests and treatment.

Health PEI has not calculated the cost of the missed appointments or considered charging patients for missed appointments, she said.

"I don't really believe until we've unearthed every possibility out there as to how can we make sure that people are missing their appointments knowingly, that that's a good way to go forward," MacPherson said.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS|How 'rules of the road' will change for P.E.I. truckers
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS|Man who stabbed woman found not criminally responsible