PATIENTS failing to turn up for appointments with their GPs are costing the NHS around £2.2million a year in Dorset alone.

NHS bosses estimate 125,000 people a year are failing to attend appointments with family doctors in the county - at a cost of around £18 a time.

In Poole alone, around 30,000 appointments will be missed, costing the taxpayer £540,000.

A survey of 707 GP practices around the UK found that almost nine million GP appointments are missed around the country each year, at a cost of around £162 million.

A further four million practice nurse appointments are missed nationally each year, making it harder for surgery staff to meet the NHS target of every patient being able to see a health professional within 24 hours.

The survey found that more than two-thirds of practices believed patients had forgotten their appointments and 26 per cent thought patients had simply felt better and chosen not to attend.

Paul Courtney, spokesman for Poole Primary Care Trust, said it was frustrating when patients did not call in good time to cancel appointments. "That causes real problems and is a drain on NHS resources," he said.

"There may be reasons why people can't do it but in many cases it's simply because somebody's forgotten to attend, forgotten they had an appointment or something else turns up and they felt it was more important."

Dr John Lovejoy, senior partner at the Rosemary Medical Centre in Parkstone, Poole, said an average of 70 to 80 patients a month failed to turn up for appointments. "We lose in the region of one whole surgery a week with people who do not attend with no reason given. It could possibly be more than that."

East Dorset MP and British Medical Association representative Dr Tom McKinstry said: "I'm in an area where people are mostly retired and are quite scrupulous about their values. If they make an appointment, they will tend to stick to it."

Next Tuesday (August 31) marks the start of the annual Keep It Or Cancel It campaign to raise public awareness and give GPs guidance on managing missed appointments.

First published: August 23