Failure to keep psychiatric appointments at primary healthcare facilities: Mental health care users missed ongoing clinical visits in Ekurhuleni district in Gauteng province, South Africa

The study aimed to describe the characteristics and reasons why mental healthcare users miss clinical appointments in primary healthcare psychiatric facilities. Missing clinical appointments is a problem in primary healthcare facilities and has received attention in recent years. It is important to establish the extent of its occurrence in order to minimize it. However, there is limited research globally and in Africa about the prevalence of MHCUs missing clinical appointments and its contributory factors. A quantitative, simple descriptive cross-sectional approach using researcher-administered questionnaires at nine Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities was adopted. Of the 427 samples, only 404 participated in the study. Males were 54.2% dominant as compared to their female counterparts. Those found to have missed appointments were mostly among participants aged 41-55 years. The findings revealed that the most common challenge of missing appointments is related to patient factors. Participants with secondary diagnoses, particularly substance abuse disorders, were significantly more likely to miss appointments (χ2 = 12.52, df = 1, p < 0.000), compared to those with depression and schizophrenia. The findings provide target points for the establishment of guidelines that will aid in reducing risk factors for missed appointments and call for mental healthcare providers to identify patients who are at risk of not attending their psychiatric clinical appointments and intervene accordingly. Patients who miss appointments run a risk of relapsing and being readmitted. This study established factors related to missed appointments among MHCUs and is limited to Ekurhuleni District in Gauteng Province.