Hospitals hit with £14m bill

Patients failing to meet appointments are costing hospitals in the West Midlands more than £14 million a year, it was revealed today.

More than 215,000 people failed to turn up for treatment over at the region's hospitals in just one year.

Health bosses across the region say they are alarmed at the spiralling numbers of missed appointments, which they say are endangering the treatment of others.

Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs New Cross, has 43,000 missed appointments a year costing the trust more than £4.3m.

That figure looks set to rise, with the trust having already recorded more than £2.5m in lost income for the first six months of the current financial year.

The Dudley Group of Hospitals, which runs Russells Hall, has seen missed appointments nearly double from 22,000 in 2006 to 43,000 last year, worth more than £4m in lost income.

Recorded

Walsall Hospitals recorded 28,532 missed appointments last year, losing more than £2.9m in potential income, while Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Sandwell, City and Rowley Regis hospitals, had almost 80,000 missed appointments, costing £1.2m.

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stafford and Cannock hospitals, estimated its lost income at £1.9m for more than 21,000 missed appointments last year.

Estimated lost income, which overall is more than £14.3m a year, is based on how much each hospital trust could have charged primary care trusts for care if all appointments were met.

Text messages and telephone call reminders have been introduced to help.

Exclusive by Chris Moriarty