62,000 hospital appointment ‘no shows’ cost €2m

MORE than 62,000 people failed to keep out-patient appointments at nine hospitals in Cork and Kerry last year, according to figures released by the HSE.

The figures, which were acquired from a Dáil question by Cork South Central TD Michael McGrath, show 45,354 of the ‘no shows’ were accounted for by people who were making a return visit as an out-patient, while 16,861 were people scheduled to attend for the first time.

Overall, the figures show that almost one in seven people scheduled to make a return visit did not attend.