THE Mater Hospital has warned that patients will be removed from its waiting lists if they fail to respond to appointment confirmation letters within a 10 day deadline.
Under hospital protocols patients on waiting lists for the Mater are written to as the appointment approaches asking if they still need to attend.
Patients are allowed 10 working days to respond to the letter and a further ten days are allowed for late replies before they’re removed from the list.
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A letter is then sent to both the patient and their GP informing them that the appointment has been cancelled.
The HSE confirmed the procedure in response to a querey from Sinn Fein councillor, Ciaran O’Moore, at a recent regional HSE Health Forum meeting.