A SURGERY says it has been forced to consider a stricter policy towards patients who fail to attend appointments without proper reason.

Corwen Family Practice, a Betsi Cadwalar Health Board surgery, has suffered 364 ‘Did Not Attends’ (DNAs) in the last four months, pushing staff to suggest patients may be turned away if they fail to attend without notification in future.

A notice posted in the practice’s waiting room last week read: “In an attempt to try and resolve this, the practice has developed the following policy...

“If you fail to attend appointments without informing us, we will write to you asking if there are any specific problems preventing you from letting us know.

“If you repeatedly fail to attend for appointments you may be removed from the practice list and have to find an alternative GP practice.”

The notice continued: “364 doctors and nurses appointments missed in the last four months at Corwen Family Practice.”

A spokesman for Corwen Family Practice said: “We have not set up a formal policy but are trying to raise awareness that we receive an increasingly high number of DNAs which puts a lot of pressure on our doctors and nurses.

“When appointments are missed we have to turn other patien,ts away.

“We want to show people that it is important to pick up the phone and contact the surgery if they cannot attend so that another patient can come in.”

It was revealed earlier this year that DNAs cost the NHS £1 billion in 2017.

Huw Jones, county councillor for Corwen Upper/Lower, said: : “I would totally agree with the policy if it were to go ahead.

“This is a waste of the practice’s time and resources and means that people that might be in serious need of an appointment cannot see a doctor as the practice is fully booked by people who are not turning up to their appointments.

“It is drastic but what else can the practice do?”

Figures from the National Survey of Wales show one in five people struggled to book time at their surgery in Wales during 2016-17.

There is an estimated 19 million appointments made a year with GPs and those finding it “very difficult” to book rose from 15 per cent in 2012-13 to 21 per cent in 2016-17, with people in cities worst affected.

Of the 10,493 respondents, 23 per cent living in urban areas of more than 10,000 found it very difficult compared to 20 per cent of those in towns, 15 per cent of those in villages and 12 per cent of residents in hamlets and isolated locations.

Despite this, 90 per cent of people surveyed said they were satisfied with the care they received when they saw their GP.