Galway University Hospitals launches campaign to reduce number of patients who do not attend their Outpatient Clinics appointments

Galway University Hospitals is working to reduce the number of patients who do not attend their outpatient appointments and who do not tell the hospital in advance that they will not be attending.
 
Tony Canavan, Chief Operating Officer, Galway and Roscommon University Hospital Group*, “One of our main priorities for the Hospital Group this year is to radically reduce the length of time that patients wait for an outpatient appointment. We started work on this at the end of last year by carrying out an extensive validation exercise. This is now complete and we have verified details of how many patients are waiting for each outpatient clinic and how long they have been waiting. We are arranging appointments for those who have been waiting longest, first.
 
“However we have a significant problem with patients not showing up for appointments. Last year in the Group we arranged 327,585 appointments but unfortunately only 289,244 patients turned up. In total 38,341 patients did not go to their appointments or tell us in advance; when you consider that our current waiting list stands at 36,067 this means that we could have shortened our waiting list and reduced the waiting time for other patients.
 
“We understand that patients may be given appointment dates or times that do not suit and we would ask patients to let us know if that is the case. If patients are unable to attend and take the time to notify us in advance it means that we can reschedule their appointment and also offer the original appointment time to another patient.
 
“Last year it cost us €3,067,280 in lost time preparing for appointments for patients who did not turn up.
 
“We are asking patients to help us reduce the waiting times for appointments by turning up or telling us if they are unable to attend – Turn Up or Tell Us!
 
“We now have a dedicated call centre for outpatient appointments and the telephone number is included on all appointment letters. We hope that with improved communication we will be able to increase the number of appointments slots which are filled and will mean that we can reduce the length of time that patients wait for an appointment.”
 
Photo Details:
Tony Canavan, Chief Operating Officer, Galway and Roscommon University Hospital Group and Theresa Maye, Asst Staff Officer in the Outpatient Waiting List Department at UHG. Last year the Hospital Group organised 327,585 appointments but unfortunately only 289,244 patients turned up. The Hospital Group is asking patients to help reduce the waiting times for appointments by turning up or notifying the hospital if they are unable to attend.