A GP surgery in Carlton, Nottinghamshire, has taken the unusual step of displaying a daily tally of missed appointments to highlight the impact on NHS resources. Jubilee Park Medical Centre reports that over 700 appointments have been wasted this year due to patients failing to attend.
Senior GP and partner Dr Ian Campbell said staff share the desperation of patients struggling to secure appointments, but stressed that missed slots cannot be reallocated without prior notice. ‘If people can't make an appointment, we'll give it to somebody else, but if they don't tell us, it's just another appointment that goes to waste,’ he explained.
The move comes amid widespread complaints from patients about difficulty booking appointments. Kelly Rosen, 43, a patient at the surgery, said she had waited six weeks for a routine appointment and always attends because she would not be seen again.
Data from the British Medical Association shows that missed appointments in Nottinghamshire cost the NHS more than £630,000 in January and February alone, with around 15,000 patients failing to attend. NHS figures for the same period reveal 26,583 missed appointments in January and 25,044 in February across the county's 130 GP practices.
The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board acknowledged that the number of appointments has significantly increased in the past year but warned that missed appointments remain a drain on resources. Victoria McGregor-Riley, commissioning delivery director, urged patients to use the NHS app to track appointments and cancel if no longer needed.
