Service Development: Assessing Non-attendance Rates in Outpatient Clinics

Many studies have shown a high non-attendance rate in hospital outpatient clinics. The investigators have found a non-attendance rate of 25% in their asthma clinics and would like to investigate whether a reminder phone call will improve attendance rates. Patients will be randomised into two groups; one group will receive a reminder phone call one week prior to their hospital consultation and the other group will be managed in the standard manner (i.e. no reminder of any sort). The phone calls will be carried out on a Friday afternoon by a respiratory nurse specialist and a research officer for two asthma clinics based on a Wednesday morning and a Thursday afternoon.