Almost one in 20 GP appointments in Hampshire are missed by patients

The most recent figures show that there were 9,481,922 appointments across the county’s Integrated Care Board area from January to November, with patients missing 453,616 of them. This equates to 4.8 per cent.

On the figure of £30 per GP appointment – which the NHS used as an estimate in 2019 – the value of these missed appointments in Hampshire is £13,608,480.

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A total of 346.3 million appointments have been recorded in general practice across the country - including Covid vaccinations - over the last 12 months.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘Every appointment missed is taxpayers’ money wasted, and we strongly encourage patients to attend their GP appointments.

‘We are incredibly grateful to GPs and their staff, whose hard work ensured that in the 12 months up to October 2022, there were around 93,000 more GP appointments every working day compared to last year.’

The Department for Health is spending £1.5bn to create 50million more appointments a year by 2024.

An NHS spokesperson said: ‘Record numbers of people are being treated by the NHS with millions more GP appointments being delivered compared to before the pandemic.

‘The message however to patients is clear and has not changed - it is vital that people seek care when they need it.’

According to figures released by healthcare charity The Nuffield Trust over the summer, Portsmouth has the highest ration or patients to a GP in the country.

It found that the Portsmouth Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area has 2,483 patients for every GP.

Hull CCG was slightly better off with 2,481 patients for every GP, while Liverpool CCG performs best nationally with a GP for every 1,333 patients.

Speaking in June, Linda Stead, who is the operations director for the GP-led Portsmouth Primary Care Alliance, which co-ordinates GP surgeries’ out of hours and home visiting services, said demand had increased sharply.

She said: ‘What I have noticed is how difficult it is to staff our shifts and how few GPs there are. The demand without any question is rocketing. Our activity levels have gone up 25 per cent in the last year.’