Did not attend

Missed appointments are counted carefully in the NHS because clinic time is scarce. A DNA on the record is not a judgement about why the appointment was missed, but it can have consequences. Many services discharge Discharge When a service stops working with your child and closes their case. It is often an administrative step, not a judgement that your child is fine. Read the full definition of Discharge a patient after one or more DNAs, which sends your child back to the GP GP Your family doctor. For many families the GP is the first person to talk to, and the person who refers your child on to a specialist. Read the full definition of GP and can mean rejoining the queue.

For children there is a second layer. A child cannot take themselves to an appointment, so repeated missed appointments can prompt professionals to check that the child is being brought. Many children's services now record 'was not brought' instead of 'did not attend' for exactly this reason.

If you cannot make an appointment, tell the service as early as you can and ask to rebook: a cancelled appointment is not a DNA. If a letter arrived late or never came, say so and ask for the record to be corrected. If your child was discharged after a missed appointment, ask your GP about a re-referral re-referral Asking for your child to be referred again, later, when things have changed or new evidence has built up. A no now is not a no forever. Read the full definition of re-referral and explain what happened.