DOCTORS and health workers in East Cornwall are asking for patients’ help in tackling the growing number of missed GP appointments.

Managers at Tamar Valley Health, which manages health centres in Callington and Gunnislake, say that dozens of missed appointments a week can cost valuable time for clinicians and have a negative impact on other patients.

The problem is one facing the entire NHS.

Last July, health secretary Jeremy Hunt reported that missed GP and hospital appointments cost the health service in England nearly £1-billion each year. Missed GP appointments were reported to cost the taxpayer around £162-million each year, and missed hospital appointments another £750-million. The release of the figures led to calls for charging patients for missed appointments to cover the cost.

Locally, Okehampton Medical Centre reported 4,859 missed appointments from April 2015 to March 2016 - an average of slightly more than 13 a day.

Tamar Valley patient services manager Rose Rogers said: ‘It is an increasing problem. We even have people miss appointments made earlier on the same day.’

The problem happens even though the practice sends out text reminders to patients before an appointment.

‘The clinician is losing valuable time when he or she could be seeing another patient,’ said Mrs Rogers.

‘There are no consequences if you miss a health centre appointment - there’s no cost involved. It’s valuable NHS time but it is not having an impact on the person who doesn’t turn up.’

Managers and the Patient Participation Group have attempted to tackle the problem, and fresh efforts are being made with a revamp of the practice website and plans to enable patients to cancel by text.

Mrs Rogers said her team wanted to make it as easy as possible to contact their health centre.

In the meantime, she advised people who needed to cancel an appointment to call as early as possible on 01579 382666 for Callington, or 01822 832641 for Gunnislake.

Patients can also visit www.tamarvalleyhealth.co.uk and follow the ‘make or cancel an appointment’ link.