1.5 million missed appointments in 2024 What are the National Health Service and the Ministry of Health doing about it?

It is known that the situation is to be improved by e-registration. Members asked about it in the context of better management of appointment cancellations. According to data from the National Health Fund, already cited in the context of the #CancelNotBlock campaign, 1.5 million appointments were not canceled in 2024, and more than 700,000 by the middle of this year. The MPs reminded that this is a systemic problem that realistically affects the availability of appointments for patients. In their view, a uniform standard for handling appointments across the country would be needed.

- Patients indeed do not cancel a huge number of appointments. At the same time, I would also like to emphasize that the National Health Fund is working systematically in this area. In 2024, the Fund sent more than 14 million text messages reminding patients of scheduled appointments and examinations. These measures have an impact on reducing the number of missed appointments, but do not somehow significantly reduce it," admitted Deputy Health Minister Tomasz Maciejewski.

The implementation of central e-registration is also an attempt to address this problem. Its pilot is ending this year. For the time being, e-registration, as a system solution, is starting in the following areas: cardiology, cytology, mammography. - As part of the pilot, and in cooperation with healthcare providers, the community and patient organizations, a model has been developed that will provide a uniform and transparent opportunity to make appointments to specialists, and will make it easier for patients to sign up for services at their doctor's clinic, for example in the PCP, Maciejewski recalled.

Patients will be able to sign up for or cancel appointments through an online Patient Account.

What about those who are not so digitally advanced? In such cases, appointments will be reminded by a special voicebot, and the patient will not have to call the facility to confirm or cancel the appointment. - In the pilot, about 6 percent of appointments were freed up in this way for more patients. The system also allows the patient to indicate a faster appointment or a facility that is more conveniently located for him, Maciejewski reminded.

As of July 1 next year, e-registration will be expanded to include more services (including vascular diseases, infectious diseases, endocrinology, hepatology, immunology, cystic fibrosis, nephrology, neonatology, pulmonology).