Nearly 20,000 missed appointments
ALMOST 20,000 consultant led appointments have been missed by patients in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust area over the past year.
That figure was only slightly higher than the number of missed appointments within the Northern Trust area, which saw 17,135 appointments not kept.
The Trust with the highest number of appointments missed from the period December 2011 to September 2012 was Belfast with 75,385.
There were 24,523 missed appointments within the Western Trust area.
The statistics were released by the Health Minister, Edwin Poots, following a question tabled by Mid Ulster MLA, Patsy McGlone.