NI hospital statistics: Missed appointments wasted £16m last year

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-33802707

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Northern Ireland's health service lost about £16m last year because patients failed to attend hospital appointments.

According to the Department of Health, every time someone fails to turn up for a hospital appointment it costs the health service about £108.

Newly published hospital statistics show that about 147,500 patients did not keep their appointments last year.

Those patients also failed to alert staff in advance that they would not attend, meaning resources were wasted.

Considering £1m could employ 35 full-time nurses, or allow 150 people to have their hip operation, health service commissioners would argue that the public should be more responsible.

The statistics also show there was a slight rise in the number of outpatient appointments being cancelled by hospitals.

A Department of Health spokesperson called on the health board and health trusts to do all they can to minimise the level of appointments cancelled by consultants.

There has also been a notable increase in the number of people being admitted to hospitals in Northern Ireland.

Since 2011, admissions are up by 4.3% or more than 25,000 people.

In spite of the increase, there are almost 700 fewer hospital beds across the system.