ALMOST 220 outpatients appointments were missed in a two-week period in January resulting in €28,251 in wasted healthcare resources, we can reveal.
The figures, shared to us by a reader, show there were 219 ‘no show’ appointments between January 15 to January 31. The missed appointments also resulted in hundreds of hours of lost care.
According to the figures, the specialty with the most missed appointments was Fracture (55), followed by Paediatric Medicine (39). Orthopaedics and Urology saw 25 and 15 missed appointments, respectively.
General surgery accounted for 15 no shows, while General Medicine saw 10 missed appointments in the two-week timeframe. There were 12 missed appointments in Respiratory Medicine, while Ear, Nose and Throat accounted for eight no shows.
Speaking to the Donegal News, Chair of Regional Health Forum West, Councillor Gerry McMonagle described the number of missed appointments as “worrying”.
“I think 219 in a two-week period is very worrying indeed and needs addressing. The HSE should follow up with these patients and see what the reasons for their non attendance were. 219 no shows in a 16-day period seems an awful lot, that’s almost 14 per day.”
Cllr McMonagle said that while he was mindful of what the financial costs are for people who miss their scheduled appointment, he said that he is also conscious about the time and slots they take up that other people could avail of.
“Patients who know they are not going to make an appointment should inform the hospital in a timely fashion so that others patients can avail of the appointments.
“I think the hospital would need to drill down into these figures and give us a thorough breakdown of the missed appointments; where, how many per day, although it is down, in many instances, to taking personal responsibility to attend your appointment.”
We also asked the HSE of their new decision to publish the financial figure in relation to missed appointments. It had not been received at the time of going to press yesterday.
