THE LOCAL public is being urged to support the local health service by making sure they attend their hospital appointments, after it was revealed well over 500 people didn’t turn up to for their appointments at SWAH in one month.
Cllr Victor Warrington, who works closely with the Western Trust in his role as a local health representative, was at the hospital recently for an appointment of his own, when he noticed the shocking figure on one of the many information posters around the hospital. He told the Herald he was taken aback by the figure.
“I was shocked to see that in one month, 538 people missed their appointments,” said Cllr Warrington. “With Covid and restrictions, those 530 odd people are missing appointments that other people are probably screaming for.”
Cllr Warrington said he had even heard of people cancelling their hospital appointments after realising it clashed with a hair dressers’ appointment.
“It shows people’s priorities, they’re a wee bit mixed up,” he said.
Urging people to call ahead if they have a valid reason for not attending, Cllr Warrington said people not showing up to their appointments put added strain on an already strained system, and added to the ever growing health waiting lists.
“I just think in the current climate with Covid that it’s disgraceful,” he said. “At the end of the day, appointments have been restricted and no doubt the Trust is trying to get back into some sort of normality with scheduled appointments.
“For that amount of appointments to be missed in one month – OK, some may have been for a genuine reason, but there’s no way all of them were genuine.
“I’m glad to say I’ve never missed an appointment without notifying them and without a good excuse.”
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