Non-attendance at outpatient clinics at the Regional Hospital, Galway, Ireland.

This paper examines the issue of non-attendance at outpatient clinics at the Regional Hospital, Galway, from the viewpoint of the patients who include both urban and rural residents. The results of a questionnaire survey of outpatients attending general and specialist medical and surgical clinics illustrate that very substantial costs are incurred and long periods of time are spent travelling by many patients. Females, and married females in particular, experience special difficulty in keeping appointments. Non-attendance increases as the cost of transport increases but many patients seriously underestimate the real cost of travel. Patients who have been attending over long periods of time have the worst record of non-attendance. It is recommended that any reorganisation of hospital outpatient systems in rural areas such as Western Ireland should take account of the particular needs of widely dispersed populations.