Emely Blæhr

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fine for non‐attendance in public hospitals in Denmark:

T2 - A survey of non‐attenders' reasons and attitudes

AU - Vaeggemose, Ulla

AU - Blæhr, Emely

AU - Ladehoff, Anne Marie

AU - Burau, Viola

AU - Ankersen, Pia Vedel

AU - Lou, Stina

PY - 2020/9

Y1 - 2020/9

N2 - Objective: To investigate non-attending patients' reasons for non-attendance and their general and specific attitudes towards a non-attendance fine. Data sources: Non-attenders at two hospital departments participating in a trial of fine for non-attendance from May 2015 to January 2017. Design: A quantitative questionnaire study was conducted among non-attenders. Data collection: Non-attending patients in the intervention group were invited to complete the questionnaire. The response rate was 39% and the total number of respondents was 71 individuals. Principal findings: The main reason for non-attendance was technical challenges with the digital appointment and with cancelation. The main part of the respondents was generally positive towards a fine for non-attendance. However, approximately the half had a negative attitude towards the actual fine issued. Conclusions: Technical challenges with appointments and cancelation should get special attention when addressing non-attendance. Danish non-attending patients are primarily positive towards the general principle of issuing a fine for non-attendance. However, a significant proportion of the generally positive, reported a negative specific attitude to the specific fine issued to them. This, however, did not affect their general attitude.

AB - Objective: To investigate non-attending patients' reasons for non-attendance and their general and specific attitudes towards a non-attendance fine. Data sources: Non-attenders at two hospital departments participating in a trial of fine for non-attendance from May 2015 to January 2017. Design: A quantitative questionnaire study was conducted among non-attenders. Data collection: Non-attending patients in the intervention group were invited to complete the questionnaire. The response rate was 39% and the total number of respondents was 71 individuals. Principal findings: The main reason for non-attendance was technical challenges with the digital appointment and with cancelation. The main part of the respondents was generally positive towards a fine for non-attendance. However, approximately the half had a negative attitude towards the actual fine issued. Conclusions: Technical challenges with appointments and cancelation should get special attention when addressing non-attendance. Danish non-attending patients are primarily positive towards the general principle of issuing a fine for non-attendance. However, a significant proportion of the generally positive, reported a negative specific attitude to the specific fine issued to them. This, however, did not affect their general attitude.

KW - attitude

KW - fine

KW - non-attendance

KW - patient experience

KW - reasons for non-attendance

KW - APPOINTMENTS

KW - RISK-FACTORS

KW - SERVICES

KW - ADOPTION

KW - CLINICS

KW - REMINDERS

KW - SHOW

KW - OVERBOOKING

U2 - 10.1002/hpm.2980

DO - 10.1002/hpm.2980

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32323896

VL - 35

SP - 1055

EP - 1064

JO - International Journal of Health Planning and Management

JF - International Journal of Health Planning and Management

SN - 0749-6753

IS - 5

ER -