Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 1000 of 6 November 2012, if he has considered a penalty scheme for persons who do not attend appointments and give no prior notice of non-attendance in view of the high percentage that occur. [51160/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to my previous reply of the 6th November this year. It remains the position that, while acute hospitals currently have in place a variety of DNA (did not attend) policies, a standardised approach is now being developed as part of a national Outpatient Performance Improvement Programme. This Programme, developed by the Special Delivery Unit (SDU) will be implemented nationally over the period 2012 to 2015 to improve the provision of outpatient services. The Programme will address the management of DNAs as well as a range of other issues. If a patient finds they cannot attend the appointment they have been given I would appeal to all such patients to inform the clinic concerned as soon as they know they cannot attend.