£4m lost from missed appointments

More than 18,000 outpatient appointments were wasted in the Western Trust last year due to patients not turning up for their appointment last year, the trust has said.

Each missed appointment costs the trust £220 which equates to £4m lost to the health and social care budget, the trust said.

Patients attending outpatient appointments across the Western Trust area receive a text or an automated call, reminding them of their outpatient appointment three days prior to their appointment.

In a statement, the trust asked “for the public’s cooperation in reducing non-attendance for hospital outpatient appointments so that valuable resources and staff time is not wasted”.

From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 the total number of patients who did not attend their outpatient appointment was 18,206.

Assistant Director of Surgery, Paediatrics and Women’s Health Paul Doherty said: “We understand that there are many genuine reasons why people are not able to make an appointment however, as these figures show every missed appointment is a lost opportunity for someone else to be seen.”

He added that if patients let the hospital know if they won’t be able to attend, this will have a “significant impact on already overstretched health service”.

To help reduce non-attendance, the trust has in place a system for booking outpatient appointments, where patients are given a choice of dates and times and they can select one that best suits them.

The trust also offer the ConnectWest App which allows for online messaging which includes out of hours communication with the booking team.