A LACK of consultants has been blamed for the cancellation of more than one in three of the 160,636 hospital appointments last year.
The majority of patients affected by cancellations were the elderly, followed by those in acute care and then maternity and child care.
The `unavailability' of consultants was the most frequent reason given for cancelled outpatient appointments across all five of the Northern Ireland trusts.
The five specialties with the highest hospital cancellation rates during 2017/18 were cardiac surgery, followed by thoracic surgery, neurosurgery, clinical oncology and paediatric surgery
A further 41,385 were `put back' by the hospital to a later date.
Meanwhile, patients themselves missed a total of 128,407 appointments during 2017/18 and cancelled a further 191,803.
During 2017/18, a total of 1,456,651 attendances took place at consultant-led outpatient services across the north.
More than two fifths - 614,544 - of the attendances were at Belfast hospitals, with 15.4 per cent in the Southern trust, 15.3 per cent in the Western trust, 14.9 per cent in the South Eastern trust and 12.2 per cent in the Northern trust.
For Child and Adolescent Psychiatry no cancellations were recorded.
