Over 10% of all new outpatient appointments across the Nation’s hospitals are being missed by patients with the Scottish Government estimating that every missed appointment costs the NHS £110.
Lanarkshire NHS Board’s 11.9% figure of ‘no-shows’ in the period saw a total of 17,284 missed appointments out of 145,397 new appointments made. This compares to 167,968 out of 1,576,359 outpatient appointments in Scotland missed, a total of 10.7%.
Sadly, every missed appointment hurts mine and your NHS. It denies another patient an appointment that they might desperately need.
Not only will it waste precious time for our hard working nurses, doctors or consultants, it contributes to bureaucratic gridlock as administrative staff have to devote time to arranging appointments that will ultimately be broken.
Nanette Milne MSP, Shadow Minister for Public Health, who uncovered the figures, said: "We need a pro-active approach from the SNP Government and a move towards more sophisticated ways to remind patients with text message and email reminders.
"In these difficult times caused by Labour's legacy of debt, we cannot afford to throw money away."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "In the current economic climate it is even more vital that NHS boards reduce any waste in their budgets.
"It is every patient's responsibility to keep their appointments but we recognise that the NHS has to be flexible in helping make appointments convenient for patients.
"That is why boards in Scotland have been given a 2% target for efficiency savings and are all working on implementing policies to reduce missed appointments.
"This includes text and phone reminders, more choice over the time of an appointment and a poster campaign reminding patients of their responsibilities in using NHS services."
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