Health Minister concerned as almost half a million people fail to turn up for hospital appointments

Health Minister Simon Harris has said that the Government needs to examine why large numbers of people are missing outpatient appointments in hospitals.

Health Minister Simon Harris has said that they need to examine why large numbers of people are missing outpatient appointments in hospitals.

Almost half a million people did not turn up for appointments last year alone.

Current waiting lists show more than 500,000 people waiting to be seen around the country.

Minister Simon Harris said that to cut down waiting times, they need to understand why so many appointments are missed.

"That suggests to me that there's a serious issue in relation to ensuring the accuracy of our lists," he said.

"For every single one of those missed appointments, there's somebody else who could have had an appointment.

"So when people in this room, including myself, commentate on the size of outpatient waiting lists, it is important to inject into that conversation that 479,000 outpatients did not attend their appointment last year.

"We need to get under the bonnet in terms of working out why that is the reality."

- Digital desk