16.01.12
Missed appointment charges proposed
Patients who fail to turn up for hospital appointments should be charged, a coalition advisor has suggested. Missed appointments cost the NHS up to £800m each year.
Last year 6.9 million outpatients missed appointments and additional money has been wasted trying to track down patients and to rearrange bookings.
Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk and chief political adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, told the Sunday Express: “We should consider introducing a charge for missed appointments.
“People have to understand when there is only a limited amount of money available it means cuts on care that could go on other patients.”
Lamb suggested that if patients have a good reason then they should be exempt from the penalty.
Stephen Dorrell, chairman of the Parliamentary Health Select Committee, said: “People should be reminded that the fact an appointment isn’t paid for doesn’t mean it is free.”
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “Patients have a responsibility to keep appointments or cancel within reasonable time.
“Every missed appointment is a waste of NHS resources, which could be spent on patient care.
“Local NHS organisations make their own arrangements for preventing and dealing with missed appointments. The percentage of missed appointments remains broadly stable.”
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