HUNDREDS of patients are failing to turn up for doctors’ appointments at surgeries in the town every month.

And patients who fail to turn up for appointments at the Great Western Hospital cost an average of £53 each time.

NHS Swindon is now urging people to cancel appointments they are unable to attend in advance in a bid to save money and reduce waiting lists.

At Kingswood Surgery in Park North, which has a list of 9,600 patients, between 110 and 120 appointments are missed every month And at Lawn Medical Centre, which has 5,600 patients, around 80 to 100 people fail to show for appointments every 30 days.

John Reason, NHS Swindon Primary Care Development Manager, said: “Patients who do not attend their GP appointment waste valuable time.

“This time could be spent caring for someone else who is very unwell.

“By failing to cancel appointments the time cannot be filled so everyone waits longer for an appointment.

“Around three per cent of patients fail to turn up for booked appointments.

“This can happen for appointments booked in advance and also for urgent appointments made available on the same day.

“We would ask all patients to let their GP surgery know if they cannot make an appointment so the time can be offered to someone else.”

Since April 2010, Whalebridge Practice, in the town centre, with a list of 10,000 patients, has had an average of 240 patients a month fail to turn up for their appointments.

At Sparcells Surgery, around 20 to 25 appointments are no-shows every month.

Shirley Pickett, 70, of Ermin Street, is a patient at Merchiston Surgery in Highworth Road, where she says the number of missed appointments at the surgery are published in reception every month.

She said: “It’s quite serious that people make these appointments then don’t keep them.

“It’s costing time and money and it is unfair on the doctors – they are professional people.

“It’s a big problem and it only takes a phone call. People need to be made more aware of the difficulties it can cause in making appointments for other people.

“It isn’t just my surgery that has the problem, I know it happens everywhere.”

Dr Peter Swinyard, of Phoenix Surgery in Toothill, said missed appointments have always been a problem at surgeries.

“On some occasions some people will just genuinely forget and that is human nature,” he said.

“But there are others who don’t value their appointments and don’t have the courtesy to cancel.

“People must remember that there is a limited number of appointments and if they don’t need them it would be very helpful if they have the decency to cancel.

“Only once in the past three or four years have we had to write a very stern letter to a patient who had wasted an enormous amount of medical time and tell them that basically the patient and doctor relationship had completely broken down and they would have to attend a different surgery. But this is very rare.”

At the Great Western Hospital missed appointments are known as 'did not attends'(DNA).

Their average cost of £53 relates to staffing costs divided between doctors, nurses, receptionists, appointments administrators and clinic preparation of the patient records.

David Moss, Outpatients Manager at the GWH’s NHS Foundation Trust said: “Unfortunately patients missing their appointments is a common occurrence at many hospitals, including here at GWH.

“At a time when we need to be making significant financial savings, we see this as a key area to be improved on and are working hard to reduce the number of patients who do not attend their appointments.

“In November we set up a new process where patients have the option to easily confirm, cancel or re-arrange their appointments online via our website.

“Information about this method is now included on all our outpatient letters and we hope this will make it easier for patients to let us know if they cannot make their appointment so it can be made available to someone else.

“Patients can also be reminded about their appointments via our text messaging service, which has proven very successful.

“We are also looking into a new automated telephone system which will remind patients of their upcoming appointments.

“These are just a few of a number of things we are working on as part of a trust-wide project to improve outpatient care and make it more efficient.”