Glossary, front desk
What is a no-show rate?
A no-show rate is the share of booked appointments that patients miss without cancelling in time, often called the DNA (did not attend) rate in the UK. It is worked out as missed appointments divided by all booked appointments over a period.
Updated . Defined by the wai team for clinics, groups and health systems.
Also called DNA rate, did not attend rate or missed appointment rate.
Why No-show rate matters to a clinic
Every missed slot is a clinician's time that cannot be sold again, and for a busy clinic it is also a patient on the waiting list who could have been seen. Over a year, a few percent of missed visits adds up to weeks of lost capacity.
Reminders work. A systematic review found patients sent a digital notification before their visit were 23% more likely to attend.1 Offering the freed slot to the waitlist recovers part of what is still missed.
Questions
What is a normal no-show rate?
It varies widely by specialty, by country and by how far ahead visits are booked. The useful number is your own, measured monthly, and whether it is moving down.
Do reminders really reduce no-shows?
Yes. Digital reminders raised attendance by 23% in a systematic review and meta-analysis.1
Sources
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