With many anecdotal tales of increased numbers of missed appointments due to the poor weather in early January, leading practice management software company Software of Excellence, decided to conduct a poll to find out the true extent of the problem.
In an email survey conducted on Wednesday 13th January, practices responded to questions regarding levels of FTAs (Fail to Attends) and whether these had increased in the previous two week period.
For the average practice FTAs run anywhere between 0% and 6% depending on the practice and the type of recall procedures they employ. Indeed some practices admitted to having FTA figures far in excess of these.
Software of Excellence wanted to know whether the stories of increased FTAs were true, and they were. Almost 75% of practices reported an increase over the last 2 weeks due to the bad weather, and 75% of these practices reported FTAs anywhere between 9% and 40% or in some cases more. The vast majority of practices surveyed did manage to open during the period and those who did have to close, did so for between 0.5 and 3 days, depending on their locality.
These figures in themselves show just how severe the weather was or at least our inability to cope with it, but they also provide a deeper concern. Although almost half of respondents said that over 80% of patients had rescheduled missed appointments, there are worries that patients, already reducing regular dental attendance as a result of economic belt tightening, will use this as a further excuse to “opt out” of routine dental care.
Brian Weatherly, Managing Director at Software of Excellence commented “The impact of the bad weather was a quite shocking. Although we knew it would have affected practices we weren’t clear as to the extent. These figures show just how important a rigorous recall process will be for practices in the coming months, to ensure these FTAs do not become lost patients.”