AQW 28357/11-15

Mrs Jo-Anne Dobson
Ulster Unionist Party
Upper Bann

Tabled Date: 15/11/2013
Answered On Date: 02/12/2013
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, pursuant to AQW 25593/11-15, to list the number of consultant-led appointments cancelled by hospitals due to the annual leave of Health and Social Care staff in each month of (i) 2010; (ii) 2011; (iii) 2012; and (iv) 2013, broken down by Health and Social Care Trust.

Answer:

The regional and sub-regional codes used to collect information on the reason for consultant-led hospital cancelled outpatient appointments have recently been reviewed and new guidance on their use issued to HSC Trusts on July 2013.

In addition, to ensure coverage across HSC Trusts, the variable on the Patient Administration System (PAS) used to collect this information has also been made mandatory.

Because of these changes, I have supplied data from the introduction of the new codes.

The tables showing the number of consultant-led appointments cancelled by hospitals due to the annual leave of Health and Social Care staff broken down by regional and sub-regional codes for July – September 2013, contain a large amount of data and as such have been placed in the Assembly Library. Due to the change in how the variable ‘reason for cancellation’ is recorded, data prior to July 2013 is not comparable and as such has not been supplied.