about £3 million is lost through missed appointments in Suffolk PCT area (this was in our local papers)

not sure if fines would help as how would they be enforced?

what they are saying though is that it might get to the stage where NHS think if someone are prepared to miss an appointment then they are removed from the waiting lists as they can’t be that unwell..

I used to work booking people in for the nhs, and i was always amazed when people would ring up 2 hours before an appointment saying “is that fine then?”, i would say “well if by fine you mean preventing people who need treatment from being treated, then yes it is. but not really.”

I do agree….but….

Having spent a significant time attending hospital and doctors appointments what about all the lost lost time to business of people waiting.
Given that so many people apparetntly dont turn up why do I always have to wait well past my alloted time to be seen…there havin a tin baff I’m tellin ya 😉

well if your concerned about the service, maybe you should go private. oh no, you probably cant afford it. so STFU. most people on the planet have to pay to have medical treatment if they break their leg, or get stabbed. be thankful you’re not one of them.

It’s actually £2550 quid hun… u missed the 0

I have just refered to my latest P60 and am intersted in your idea that I dont pay for the NHS. and there is no need to get all agressive just becuase someone dares to an express an opinion…I believe there is a space for you on SJ all ready and waiting

Now now theres no need to be petty. Some people just hold strong opinions about things like this. I understand Use’s point. I used to work in a dentists ( my mums one) as a kid and the ammount of time wasted because of people not turning up was attrocious. So now I go spare when people tell me they’ve missed appointments or whinge about being fined for it.

I absolutly agree, there is much time lost to people not turning up to appointments, its a problem whatevere type of organisation or business yuor trying to run. Its a reflection of human nature, we can all be very seflish and fail to think about the affects our actions have on others.

The point I was trying to make was that this does work both ways, I have been kept waiting for appintments over and over again, at one time I was having to attend the local hospital once every couple of weeks and in the end I would just right off the whole morning or afternoon for what was proabably a 20 minute appointment.
I can live with that and the serrvice I have receievd from the NHS over the years has been, in general very good. By defualt I have private health care as part of my job (I have to pay for it as well!!) but I have never had cause to use it and would only have to do so if an NHS delay was going to impact on my ability to work.
If we treat these free at the point of use state services differantly when judjing their customer service they will be ultimatly doomed
The idea that we could start to charge people for missing appointments is the kind of knee jerk, 6 form socialist nosence that really gets on my hooter. Totally unworkable :you_crazy

And as far as me being petty I note my lack of childish capitalised expletives.