REVEALED: thousands of appointments cancelled in NI hospitals
Hospitals across Northern Ireland cancelled 155,987 appointments during the past year, it was revealed today (Thursday).
In addition, more than 93,000 patients simply did not show up to their hospital appointments.
The new figures were released by the Department of Health and cover both inpatient and outpatient services.
They arrive on the back of spiralling hospital waiting lists with Emergency Departments across Northern Ireland continuing to deal with huge numbers of patients coming through their doors.
The statistics also show that patients also cancelled 118,255 outpatient appointments.
Overall, there were more than one million face-to-face attendances at consultant-led outpatient services.