DOCTORS and community therapists are becoming increasingly frustrated with ‘no shows’ as an average of 25,000 patients a year fail to show up for appointments.
One deeply concerned community therapist, who spoke with the Limerick Post, said on one day in February four out of seven scheduled appointments never showed up.
“They didn’t arrive for their appointment and they didn’t ring in advance to say they couldn’t make it. Those slots could have gone to other people who are in pain and need help, if they had let us know,
“Many people are desperate for services and would be willing to take last minute cancellations, which would be easy to arrange if we had notice.”
The therapist explained that letters are sent in advance to patients and, in those letters, patients are asked to call and cancel their appointment if they can’t make it, so that another patient can avail of the slot.
“I know things happen at the last minute or people get sick on the day and of course that’s unavoidable. But there is rarely a single day that I don’t have multiple cancellations and they can’t all be last minute emergencies. All we’re asking is that people ring and let us know so we can reschedule them and give the appointment to someone else,” she said.
A spokesman for University Hospital Limerick (UHL) confirmed to the Limerick Post that no show patients are responsible for a huge number of ghosted appointments.
“In recent years, an average of 25,000 outpatient appointments at UHL have been unable to go ahead because the patient did not attend,” he said.
“Patients may also cancel their appointments or procedures at such short notice that it is not possible to offer the appointment to another patient who may have to complete pre-operative assessment, infection prevention precautions, or other measures.
“We understand that patients often have no choice but to cancel their appointments and this can often be the right thing to do.
“All patients who are waiting for appointments and operations are prioritised according to clinical need, with urgent cases being the highest priority. Beyond this, we focus on seeing and treating those who have been waiting the longest.”
The spokesman said that to avoid scheduling appointments for people who don’t need them any more, the hospital regularly contacts patients to see if they wish to remain on the list.
‘We have also introduced advanced clinical prioritisation for outpatients waiting longer than nine months in order to use clinic time more efficiently. Approximately 10,000 patients were seen virtually by consultants based in UHL and Ennis last year under this initiative,” the spokesman added.
