Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of missed appointments in (i) Warwickshire and (ii) nationally; and what steps he is taking to reduce the number of missed appointments.

The Department has made no formal estimate of the cost of missed appointments in Warwickshire or nationally.

However, we’re clear that reducing missed appointments is an important part of improving elective care and making best use of National Health Service capacity to cut waiting times. The Government has committed, in the Elective Reform Plan, to focussed action to reduce missed appointments, including enhancing two-way communication between hospitals and patients, and to use artificial intelligence to predict who will miss appointments, to save up to one million missed appointments. NHS England continues to support the validation of waiting lists, as part of the Government's plans for a more productive and improved approach to elective care which is better for patients. Effective validation helps trusts to understand the true size of their waiting list for better planning and can help avoid missed appointments to reduce overall waiting times.

Locally, trusts are also using data‑led approaches to prioritise proactive appointment reminders, making greater use of the NHS App and patient portals, and targeting specialties with higher non‑attendance rates through outpatient improvement work.