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Non‐attendance for first appointments in primary care mental health services represents a major service delivery challenge. Previous research identified how invitation type can influence attendance rates and a localised study was therefore carried out to examine the most effective invitation method and to inform local service guidelines. This exploratory study aims to consider the rate of non‐attendance to assessment for clients referred for psychological therapy in relation to invitation type.

In total, 521 invitations to initial assessment were sent over a three month period with clients being drawn from a rolling waiting list of referrals and invited to attend initial assessment by letter, telephone, or telephone with a telephone reminder. Non‐attendance rates were examined and findings compared across invitation type.

The study concluded that telephone invitations followed by a telephone prompting reminder significantly reduced non‐attendance to initial assessment appointments.

The findings highlight how using phone based invitation to assessment with a phone reminder can increase attendance rates and improve service efficiencies locally and more widely. There were several limitations to the research project including key variables not included or controlled for which it is felt may have biased the findings and the small effect size.

The findings of the present study extend and build on previous research in the area of attendance, particularly in relation to the provision of localised evidence from which to develop and improve local, national and international service delivery.

This study aims to investigate whether factors previously shown to influence attendance rates for appointments in general practice and general mental health services also influence attendance rates in services for people with intellectual disabilities (ID).

Post hoc data from 452 psychology appointments, ID diagnostic and initial screening (triage) appointments were collected from the health-care files of a community adult ID psychology service. Demographic factors (age, sex) and clinical factors (waiting time, time between appointment invitation being sent and appointment being held, presence of prior telephone call or letter, type of appointment, weekday, month) were recorded along with the attendance outcome (attended/did not attend [DNA]). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was also explored by documenting whether the appointment predated March 2020.

No significant associations were found between any variable investigated and attendance outcome when analysing appointment data as a whole and when splitting the data between appointment type. Weekday was found to significantly be associated with attendance outcome for appointments held during COVID-19, in which more DNA appointments occurred on a Wednesday compared to the other days of the week. No other associations were found for appointments held during the COVID-19 pandemic or for appointments held prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. These results suggest that factors which influence attendance rates in general health-care settings do not necessarily generalise to ID services.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine whether certain demographic and clinical factors influenced attendance rates in an adult intellectual disability service.

Research demonstrates that non-attendance at healthcare appointments is a waste of scarce resources; leading to reduced productivity, increased costs, disadvantaged patients through increased waiting times and demoralised staff. The purpose of this paper is to investigate non-attendance and implemented interventions to improve practice.

A mixed methods service audit took place in a primary care psychological therapies service. Existing service guidelines and reporting systems were reviewed. A cross-sectional design was used to compare a year’s cohort of completers of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) (n=140) and drop-outs (n=61).

Findings suggested contrasting guidelines and clinically inaccurate reporting systems. The overall service did not attend (DNA) rate was 8.9 per cent; well below rates suggested in the literature. The drop-out rate from CBT was 17 per cent. The most influential factor associated with CBT drop-out was the level of depression. The level of anxiety, risk ratings and deprivation scores were also different between completers and drop-outs. The main reasons given for non-attendance were forgetting, being too unwell to attend, having other priorities, or dissatisfaction with the service; again these findings were consistent with prior research.

A range of recommendations for practice are made, many of which were implemented with an associated reduction in the DNA rate.

Describes the development of the Austrian university system 1875‐1914. German influence was detrimental to Austrian universities′ hopes for improving standards, higher status and autonomy. German scholarship was linked with German nationalism – increasing conflict between German‐speaking and non‐Germanspeaking institutions in Austria. German scholarship commanded high respect and German universities attracted professors away. University expansion created a market for professors and the Austrian universities were at a disadvantage.

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how a generic value chain and customer focused system as demonstrated by the Scottish and Irish breast screening programmes can be used to provide a high quality health service.

Literature relevant to aligning the entire operating model – the companies' culture, business processes, management systems to serve one value discipline, i.e. customer intimacy, is reviewed and considered in the context of the NHS Scottish Breast Screening Programme in Edinburgh and BreastCheck – the National Breast Screening Programme in Ireland.

This paper demonstrates how an emphasis on customer focus and operational excellence, as used in other service industries, can help to provide a better health service. It uses the Scottish and Irish breast screening programmes as illustrative examples. The paper applies the key requirements in the delivery of a quality service including an understanding of the characteristics of a service industry, the management of discontinuities involved in its delivery and the environment in which it operates.

System failure is commonly the cause of quality failure in the health system. Breast screening programmes are designed to prevent such a failure. This paper promotes and describes the use of the generic value chain by using the knowledge gained in delivering a mammography‐screening programme.

Librarians at Northcentral University (NCU) provide online synchronous research consultations for students to discuss resources and search strategies for class assignments, papers, presentations, theses and dissertations. The purpose of this paper is to document the implementation and assessment of this service and to seek to demonstrate that research consultations provided by NCU librarians contribute to students’ learning and success.

Research consultations are scheduled using Springshare LibCal and are conducted via Citrix GoToMeeting. Students report their satisfaction and skills learned via the Research Consultation Satisfaction Survey. Dissertation chairs and faculty instructors complete separate surveys, which assess the effect that research consultations had on their students’ work. All surveys were created using Qualtrics.

Assessment data reveal that students are satisfied with the research consultation service and can identify specific skills learned. Additionally, faculty and dissertation chairs report an improvement in students’ citations and ability to locate relevant sources. Future research may include examination of learning analytics or citation analysis for students who participated in research consultations.

Research consultations are rarely documented in the scholarly literature. An opportunity exists to make virtual research consultations more widely adopted as a distinct library reference service, and further, to measure the impact of this service. This project demonstrates how to successfully implement and assess online research consultations. Techniques discussed may be used in 100 per cent virtual environments, as well as within traditional, brick and mortar schools that may already offer face-to-face research consultations.

The purpose of this paper is to use theoretical and field evidence to discuss what the value-attributes for academic-administrative services as perceived by students in higher education institutions (HEIs) and how such organizations deliver them. An emerging framework relating value-attributes for HEIs’ administrative and academic services is presented from the perspective of students.

Focus group analysis with Brazilian HEI’s students supported this study. Extensive theoretical references from lean services and services theory contribute to building an emerging framework that extends the background on the subject.

The following framework of eight value-attributes for administrative services in HEIs were studied: reliability, empathy, access, responsiveness, self-service technology convenience, communication, personalization and imperceptibility. The value-attributes may receive different degrees of prioritization and improvement effort according to the type of service and strategic positioning of the organization.

Field evidence is limited by the extent of students and organizations accessed. Implications include directing future research to produce a quantitatively validated model and as an emerging framework, to support decision-planning in the context of HEIs.

The study extends the literature relating the connection between lean services, services theory and higher education services. No similar study has been found in Brazilian HEIs.

IN dealing with beams, in which the trace of the plane containing the applied bending moment does not coincide with a principal axis of the beam section, the present design method is to draw the Momcntal Ellipse on the section in question and at the point where the trace of the plane containing the applied bending moment cuts the Momental Ellipse, a tangent is drawn. The line‐drawn through the centroid of the section parallel to this tangent is then the neutral axis under the conditions of loading, and the perpendicular distance between these two parallel lines is the radius of gyration of the section for this plane of loading. The fibre stress in the section is maximum at the point in the sectipn furthest away from the neutral axis under the component of the applied bending moment which is perpendicular to the neutral axis.