PATIENTS missed more than 72,000 appointments at City Hospitals Sunderland during the past two years – costing the cash-strapped Trust more than £10million, shocking new figures revealed today.
The Trust, which runs Sunderland Royal Hospital and Eye Infirmary, is about £4million in the red.
But it was forced to waste £4.9million in 2005/06 because patients failed to show up for a staggering 36,301 appointments – one of the worst rates in t
he country.
Another £5.2million was lost in 2004/05 when 35,881 appointments were missed, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The hospital is attempting to tackle the problem and has launched a pilot project in one department where patients receive a text message reminding them of their appointment.
A spokeswoman for City Hospitals Sunderland, said: "As we are reducing waiting times to no more than 13 weeks for an outpatient appointment, our flexibility to manage failed appointments reduces.
"With the introduction of Choose and Book it is hoped that as patients choose the date and time of an appointment convenient to them, the failed-to-attend rate will reduce.
"The trust is continuing to trial new and innovative methods, such as texting patients to remind them of their appointment time and would ask that patients inform us in good time if they cannot attend for an appointment.
"It is important to remember, however, that we too have a responsibility to ensure that we do not cancel or change appointments at short notice, making it difficult for patients to attend the hospital."
She said that the figure quoted by the Conservative Party is an "indicative figure" based on the national reference cost charge for an outpatient appointment.
Nationally, missed appointments are costing the NHS more than £600million – almost as much as the total health service deficit, according to Tory MP Grant Shapps, who revealed the figures after lodging Freedom of Information requests with 264 NHS trusts.
The MP for Welwyn Hatfield said: "I think the Government has been pretty inept about this problem, which is symptomatic of the way they are running the health service.
"Three years ago, the Government pledged to slash missed appointments, but as with a lot of what they tend to do, they spent £6.2billion of taxpayers' money on the Choose and Book system to solve this problem, a huge Government computer system, which has run way over time, over budget, and not been delivered yet."
Fiona Cook, chairwoman of health watchdog, the PPI (Patient and Public Involvement) Forum for Sunderland City Hospitals, said: "It's a very worrying statistic. This is something we are going to have a look at.
"They are determined not to blame the IT system but there has got to be some reason why so many people are missing appointments.
"The forum is concerned about that kind of spending - this is money that could have gone on patient care."
