Missed GP appointments in Bassetlaw cost the NHS thousands of pounds

Patients failed to attend 9,005 face-to-face consultations with doctors and nurses between January and April 2019, NHS Digital data shows.

The average cost for an appointment in England is £30, meaning no-shows in Bassetlaw cost the NHS an estimated £270,150 over the four months - £2,251 a day.

The total so far this year is already enough to pay the annual salary of 12 full-time nurses.

And with sessions usually lasting around 10 minutes, unattended appointments meant GPs and other practice staff wasted 1,501 hours of consulting time, the equivalent of nine weeks.

The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) said missed sessions are "a frustrating waste of resources" for GPs, and for other patients struggling to secure time with their doctors.

As of April this year, a total of 167,253 face-to-face consultations have been booked with GPs and other practice staff in the Bassetlaw Clinical Commissioning Group.

Of those, one in 19 was missed, without the patient calling in to cancel or reschedule.

Cancelled appointments are not included in the figures, as the surgery can offer those slots to other patients.

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, ​RCGP chair, said: "We would urge patients to let us know if they can't attend as soon as possible, so we can offer that time to someone who really needs it.

"Many patients are waiting far too long for a GP appointment, and we can all do our bit to help."