‘Start fining no show patients’ - Your reaction after it was revealed 10,000 NHS appointments were missed last year

The Post reported earlier this week how NHS Digital data shows there were that at least 199,825 care contact appointments with a recorded attendance in the 12 months to April.

They are provided by hospitals, health centres and other bodies such as councils.

But patients at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust failed to attend 9,715 of these, or arrived too late to be seen.

It means around one in 20 appointments at the trust were missed in the period.

Here are a selection of your views from our online comments.

"Start charging £20 for a missed appointment. If it’s not paid don’t give them an appointment until it is."

Henry Cross

"Wouldn’t be so bad if you could get an appointment, rung my GP this morning and was told next Wednesday was the earliest they had and I wouldn’t be able to see my GP it would be a phone consultation. I was told A&E would be quicker, disgraceful."

Dot Carr

"The hospital cancelled three appointments for me. Took nine months to see the consultant but I just had to put up with it. He cancelled on me. So stuff your missed appointments - they do the same to patients."

Jan Claydon

"Would like to see how many cancellations from the NHS."

Lee Smart

"I wonder if they have calculated the waiting time for patients waiting for their GP/consultant to see them and see what the cost is to the British economy?"

Andrew Bell

"I phoned to cancel an appointment. At the next appointment, the GP challenged me about why I’d failed to attend the previous one. Obviously the receptionist hadn’t cancelled it at all. So how much of that goes on - how are the figures broken down between patient fault and NHS staff fault?"

Ken Howard

"Start fining people, standard practice at the dentists."

Graham Leishman

"If they didn’t cancel don’t send them another appt unless they pay a defaulters fee which equates with the cost to the NHS. If the NHS becomes privatised the appointment defaulters may well come to realise how fortunate they were."

Eileen Hall

"I missed an appointment, if I had received the appointment letter I would’ve attended."

Phil Graham

"Probably cos nobody received any letters or phone appointments either."

Neil Turley

"These people need to start cancelling appointments so the others may not have to wait so long."

Jean Cawley

"I had my appt cancelled the day beforeand it’s now a month before I can get another one ."

Julie Perks

"Appointments? What are those?"

Kate Fenton