Auto booking system to cut GP no-shows

A system to limit the thousands of missed doctors' appointments every year is being introduced in London.

Patients at a Twickenham surgery are being asked to use an automated system which allows them to cancel appointments 24 hours a day.

The software can then detect spaces in the doctors' diaries, allowing other patients to book a slot with their GP at all hours of the day and night.

Every week almost 250,000 patients across the NHS miss GP appointments at a cost of £300million a year.

Kerry Morley of Hampton Hill Medical Centre said its 7,200 registered patients could choose to book their appointments through reception or access the automated system using a touch-tone phone.

Stefan Olsberg, managing director of Voice Connect, the firm behind the system, said: "We hope that the new system will help to diminish the number of wasted appointments."