Why females do not attend for their pelvic ultrasound examination.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration into why females do not attend for their pelvic ultrasound examination
IRAS ID
330750
Contact name
Cushitah Ruddock
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 22 days
Research summary
This research study will focus on female patients who have been referred for a pelvic ultrasound examination from either their GP or hospital doctor, and will explore the reasons why they do not attend their pelvic ultrasound appointment.
Missed hospital appointments increase waiting times and cost the NHS millions of pounds annually. Additionally, it can result in a patient's diagnosis and treatment being delayed (NHS, 2022). There have been many studies, undertaken with the aim to identify who is unlikely to attend their appointment (Public Health Scotland, 2020), reasons for nonattendance (Murphy and Taaffe, 2019 and Collins, Santamaria and Clayton, 2003), and reducing missed appointments, although there are currently no studies that identified the reason why females do not attend their pelvic ultrasound appointment. There may be several reasons why a patient might not be able to attend their appointment, such as no childcare, unable to get the time off work, anxiety about the procedure, though these reasons cannot be assumed. Therefore, this study is being carried out to explore the reasons why females fail to attend their ultrasound pelvic appointment; only then can improvements be made to facilitate patients and their needs.The target population for this study are English speaking, female patients over 18 who have been referred for an ultrasound pelvic appointment and are aware of their appointment but who fail to attend. The participants will take part in an interview to identify the reasons why they did not attend their pelvic ultrasound appointment. This research is a single centre study based at a teaching hospital within the West Midlands, and will be a primary qualitative study taking approximately 12 months to complete.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NW/0253
Date of REC Opinion
21 Nov 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion