Missed GP appointments are costing the NHS £216m a year

NHS England has revealed that over 15 million consultations are wasted because patients are failing to show up, adding that cancelling booked appointments would enable doctors and nurses to spend time with patients who are in need of care and attention.

The British Medical Association have also called on patients to ‘play their part’ in helping the NHS to cope with rising demands.

Data collected by NHS Digital has shown that over 1.2 million hours of GP appointments are being wasted each year, that each appointment cost around £30 and the overall cost of cancelled appointments would fund the annual salaries of 2,325 full-time GPs.

The Royal College of GPs’ Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, said “There may be many reasons why a patient might miss an appointment, and in some cases it can be an indication that something serious is going on for that individual – but we would urge patients to let us know if they can’t attend as soon as possible.”

Chairman of the BMA’s committee of GPs Dr Richard Vautrey, said “Every appointment at a GP practice is precious, especially at a time when GP services are struggling to cope with rising patient demand, staff shortages and inadequate budgets.

“Practices will try many ways to address this problem, but ultimately patients do need to play their part.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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