Sir, – Further to "One in six patients fails to show for hospital clinic appointments" (August 15th), I may have a reason why some of these failures occur. I am registered for my different medical conditions with Connolly, Mater, Naas, Tallaght, Peamount, and the Eye & Ear hospitals. In each case my medical records are inaccessible to the other hospitals, so when I end up in the emergency department in one, none of the others have a record of this.
On three occasions I have been in a ward in one hospital when I was supposed to show for an appointment at another clinic. In one case I was ensconced in the same hospital, and because the respiratory and cardiology clinics were not in contact with each other, I was down as a no-show.
In a country boasting of a huge information technology industry, this is lamentable.
The HSE should have a policy of amalgamation of records, a standard patient number across all medical units, perhaps the personal public service number (PPSN), and a real-time updating of records. This would also help stop medical errors occurring. – Yours, etc,
JOHN MURPHY,
Kilcock, Co Kildare.