The NHS provides an amazing service to patients free of charge at the point of care.

But how much does it actually cost to provide the service? Here are a few examples:

• 5 minute blood test appointment £3.58
• 15 minute nurse appointment £10.75
• GP appointment £36.00
• Average prescription cost to the NHS £28.00*

We know that there are times when patients are genuinely not able to attend an appointment. However, the majority of missed appointments could be avoided, and if cancelled, used by another patient.

Using the costings above, we have reviewed the number of missed appointments from January 2017 to October 2017.

Total cost of missed appointments during this period was: £14,400.00

This is a direct cost to your GP surgery and is money that could have been used to see and treat other patients and to improve access for all.

If you are not able to make your appointment or you no longer need it, please contact the surgery to let us know, so we can offer your appointment to another patient.

How to Cancel an Appointment

We have a range of ways to cancel your appointment, even when the surgery is closed:

• By completing our online form.
• Calling the surgery
• Dropping into the surgery to cancel in person

Please help us to prevent wasting precious NHS resources.

* Figures provided by PSSRU – Unit Costs of Health and Social Care 2016