People who fail to turn up for their hospital or GP appointments are costing lives as well as millions of pounds each year. Figures released by Oxfordshire Health Authority show that a total of 140,000 people failed to keep appointments in the Oxford and Anglia region last year, writes Zahra Akkerhuys.

The Government estimates that each missed appointment costs between 20 and 50. The figure can soar to well above this price bracket when the cost of equipment and the level of expertise of many of the consultants is taken into account.

But the monetary cost pales into insignificance when it is remembered that, with enough warning, missed appointments could be allocated to people with urgent conditions who need to see a doctor immediately possibly saving lives in the process. Recent research looking into the problem on a national level shows that missed doctors' appointments are costing the NHS around 187m a year.

More than 10 million visits are wasted each year because patients fail to attend appointments with their GP.

On average, GPs report about 18 missed appointments a week, with practice nurses experiencing at least eight no-shows, according to the survey by the Doctor-Patient Partnership, a branch of the British Medical Association.

The pollsters asked questions at more than 1,000 surgeries across the country.

Oxfordshire Health Authority spokesman Steve Argent says: "Waiting lists in Oxfordshire are a serious problem that need to be addressed. People do a lot of damage by not turning up because their slot could be taken up by people who really need to be seen.

"Apart from reducing the out-patients' waiting list this would ensure that people would be seen more quickly. People who cannot make an appointment should let the GP surgery or hospital know.

"If nobody is warned that a patient is not going to turn up then time is being wasted."

However, patients say they expect hospitals and doctors' surgeries to pull their weight and see them on time when they make a scheduled appointment. Under the Patients' Charter, out-patients should be seen within 30 minutes of their appointment time.

But one 28-year-old woman, from Cowley, says she was left disappointed when she went for an appointment at Oxford's Genitourinary Medicine Clinic, based at the Radcliffe Infirmary. The woman, who did not wish to be named, turned up for a lunchtime appointment at 1.40pm. She waited until 2.15pm but as there was no sign that she was next in line to see the doctor she had to return to work on time.

She says: "It's all very well for the NHS to blame patients for not keeping their appointments but hospitals and doctors should meet their side of the bargain.

"I made the appointment for 1.40pm because I particularly needed to see the doctor during my lunch hour not everyone can take a day off every time they need to see a doctor.

"I had to leave to get back to work. I will now not be seen until next month although I have been told I can pick up a repeat prescription for more medication before then."

Andrew Murphy, out-patients' services manager for Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals, says: "We are obliged to see 90 per cent of patients within half an hour of their appointment time and as a trust we tend to meet that requirement.

"We strive all the time to improve services but must work within certain constraints."

Mr Murphy confirmed that clinics are always over-booked so that time is not wasted when patients do not show up.

He conceded that this inevitably meant that when all patients kept their appointments they are forced to wait more than half an hour. I