Psychiatric out-patient non-attenders: a cause for relief or concern?

In daily clinical practice, out-patient non-attendances are, unfortunately, regular occurrences. With the current trend towards community based care, out-patient facilities have become increasingly important, and the failure of patients to attend is both disruptive and worrying for professionals in this area. It is difficult to predict which of the non-attenders will progress to join the ranks of those “lost to follow-up”. This study was conceived in an attempt to clarify this question, in the setting of adult general psychiatric out-patient services.