Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is probably all of the above; it is a range of factors. It also comes after a very difficult period for the health service. Thankfully, we are now seeing re-investment in health again. However, there are some interesting points. We have a do-not-attend rate for hospital appointments of approximately 15%, which is much higher than it should be. I am not blaming the patients for this. Perhaps patients are waiting too long and by the time the operation can be carried out it is not needed or circumstances have changed. We must ensure we are reminding patients to turn up for their hospital appointments as well. People are given a scheduled appointment and they might forget to attend, but that costs the health service a great deal. It also wastes a large number of hospital appointments. We must drive that down. A do-not-attend rate of 15% works out at approximately 60,000 missed attendances at our hospitals every year.

That is an awful lot of hospital appointments and wasted time for doctors. In the circumstances, I plan to introduce a reminder system involving SMS messaging very shortly. That system will be important. We also need clinical verification. We need to ensure that people on waiting lists still need to be there and that they have not been referred to more than one doctor for procedures. We also need to see more procedures being performed in the community, which is the big win. We need to see GPs obtaining access to diagnostics. Many GPs tell me that it is a bugbear for them to be obliged to refer someone to an outpatient appointment to access a test they know they could provide themselves. I will revert with a suggestion I have in a moment.

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