Child, adolescent, and psychological therapies national dataset (CAPTND)
Psychological Therapies Appointment 'Did Not Attend' (DNA) Report

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents data relating to activity in Psychological Therapies (PT) services from the Child, Adolescent, and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND) in NHS Scotland. The release examines total and first contact appointment did not attend (DNA) risk amongst PT patients relating to the period between April 2025 and June 2026. Differences in DNA risk between population groups are explored to help better understand patterns of patient non-attendance in PT services.

CAPTND is a dataset in development that collates information for mental health services at patient-level and records each individual’s journey through the service from referral to discharge. CAPTND data are still under development therefore any inferences or conclusions from this analysis must be treated with caution, and should not be compared to the official aggregate PT collection and waiting times.

Improving data quality in CAPTND is an ongoing process, meaning data from previous quarters may not be directly comparable to the current reporting period. For more information regarding the data quality of this release, please see the accompanying data quality document.

Psychological therapies refer to a range of interventions, based on psychological concepts and theory, which are designed to help people understand and make changes to their thinking, behaviour and relationships in order to relieve distress and to improve functioning. The standard applies specifically to psychological therapies for treatment of a mental illness or disorder.

Main points

For PT data recorded in CAPTND across NHS Scotland, between 1 April 2025 and 30  June 2026:

• There was a total of 630,597 PT appointments offered, with 60,604 recorded as not attended without adequate notification. This is a total appointment did not attend (DNA) risk of 9.6% for PT patients over the 15-month publication period.  
• Total appointment DNA risk was highest amongst male (10.0%) patients compared to females (9.5%), and non-attendance was generally highest in patients aged under 40 years, with DNA risk consistently lowest in the over 65 age group for both sexes (5.1% males; 5.5% females). This pattern was also observed for first contact appointments, with DNA risk highest amongst patients under 40 years.  
• Patients living in the most deprived SIMD quintile had a higher total appointment DNA risk than those from the least deprived SIMD quintile. Total appointment DNA risk was 12.1% for both females and males in the most deprived quintile, compared with 7.0% and 7.5% respectively in the least deprived quintile. A similar trend was observed for first contact appointments, with DNA risk increasing with relative deprivation based on SIMD.  
• Of the 630,597 total appointments recorded in PT, 12.6% (79,691) were first contact appointments, with a first contact DNA risk of 9.4% (7,491 appointments not attended without adequate notification).   
• Patients waiting 36 to 52 weeks (16.1%) for their first contact appointment were almost twice as likely to DNA as those offered an appointment within 18 weeks (8.5%). 

Background

PHS is continuing to develop CAPTND and accompanying narratives. There are plans underway to review reporting methods and include additional measures such as waiting times from CAPTND when the data quality of further measures is deemed sufficient. NHS health boards are working with PHS and the Scottish Government to improve the consistency and completeness of the information.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 2 March 2027.