Communication of Outpatient Appointments at The James Cook University Hospital

Summary

Outpatient appointments are defined as appointments which do not require an overnight stay at the hospital. Outpatients may also be referred to as day cases.

This feedback focused on two departments, Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) and Paediatrics, raising issues surrounding receiving letters when appointments had been cancelled or rearranged at short notice. Where letters were marked as sent by the hospital according to its electronic system but not received by the patient at their address in time, patients came in to the hospital for a cancelled appointment.