PATIENTS are being urged not to miss hospital appointments after it was revealed that 67,500 were wasted last year at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at a cost of £1.6 million of wasted staff time.

The trust, which runs Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital, Northallerton's Friarage Hospital and services at a number of community hospitals, had a “did not attend” (DNA) rate of eight per cent in the last financial year.

The trust says the cost of forgetful patients and late cancellations is the equivalent of paying for 74 registered nurses and resulted in approximately £5 million in lost income.

Richard Whitehouse, business manager for tertiary services, said: “We are continually striving to give patients the best experience possible and one of the areas we always keep a close eye on is our 'did not attend' rate.

“At the moment around 40 per cent of patients who do not attend appointments cancel on the day which really limits our chances of being able to give their slot to someone else.

“We are urging patients to make sure they attend appointments or to provide us with as much notice as possible if they can’t make it to help reduce waiting times for other patients and waste within the NHS.”

A range of measures are already in place to try to reduce DNAs as part of the trust’s transformation programme which aims to ensure services run more efficiently. This includes a reminder service for patients, displaying the number of DNAs in waiting areas and not arranging appointments too far in advance.

Appointments can be cancelled by calling individual departments or online at southtees.nhs.uk