NI highest rate of missed appointments

A report published today has revealed Northern Ireland has the worst record in the UK for people not turning up for outpatient appointments.

In all, one in ten outpatient appointments in hospitals across the province do not take place because the patient hasn’t turned up, or the appointment was cancelled.

The problem is also costing Northern Ireland more than £11 million as well as putting people’s health at risk.

The report ‘Missed Appointments and Cancelled Clinics’, by Auditor General for Northern Irelan, John Dowdall, said: “Failure to attend outpatient appointments can waste valuable time and resources. A comparison with Great Britain shows that Northern Ireland has consistently had the highest overall rate of non-attendance.

It continued: “In our view, health service managers and clinicians need to monitor non-attendance/cancellation rates closely in order to clarify the factors influencing them and to allow the planning of effective strategies aimed at minimising any loss of time and resources due to missed and cancelled appointments.”

However the report also praised the Department of Health’s drive to slash waiting lists, saying: “Given the scale of the challenge – with almost 74,000 patients waiting more than 26 weeks for a first outpatient appointment this time last year – this is a commendable performance by the Department.”

The highest rate of non-attendence was in the Foyle Community Trust in the North West, with 23% of appointments missed.

Meanwhile, the lowest rate was in the Northern Health Board area, with a 9% rate.

(JM/KMcA)