Are you wasting NHS money?

More than £100 million of scarce NHS resources are being wasted in London every year - by patients. That is the estimated cost to the health service of people who simply fail to turn up for appointments with their GP or at hospital outpatient clinics.

The exact cost to the health service is difficult to calculate but, at some of the capital's busiest hospitals, around a quarter of patients are classified as Did Not Attend - or DNA. Last year a staggering 1.5million hospital appointments and two million GP consultations were wasted in the capital.

The estimated cost of missed GP appointments is around £37.8 million a year - enough to train 1,000 new nurses. A further £75million was wasted through the loss of hospital outpatient appointments - enough money for 1,500 newly qualified hospital consultants or 5,000 heart bypass operations.

The Department of Health is gradually introducing computerised booking systems, which will allow patients to book an appointment with a hospital specialist online before they leave the GP's surgery. The aim is to cut down on DNAs by offering more convenient appointments. However, many appointments are wasted because patients are forced to wait so long.

Reasons for not turning up
What the hospitals say
What the GPs say
Booking at patients' convenience