Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure day patients attend their (a) GP and (b) hospital appointments.

Estimates suggest that missed general practitioner appointments cost the National Health Service £162 million each year, and missed hospital appointments as much as £750 million a year.

Local NHS organisations make their own arrangements for preventing and dealing with missed appointments. Innovative solutions to reduce rates of missed appointments are being introduced, for example using text message or email reminders, online cancellation forms, or having appointments via Skype for those who do not need a physical examination.