PATIENTS who failed to attend appointments cost Colchester hospitals £3million last year – a sum being cut by a new initiative Figures from Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust show 25,000 people did not attend appointments, each costing £125, at Colchester General and Essex County hospitals.

But a new scheme to remind patients about their appointment by phone, launched in December 2008, had seen it save £163,000 by April.

The new system allows patients to confirm an appointment or change it It saw the rate for those failing to attend a first appointment fall in the three months to the end of March, from almost nine per cent the year before to just over 6.5 per cent.

In the same period, the rate for missed follow-up appointments fell from 13 per cent to just under 9 per cent.

Chris Davison, associate director for planned care at the trust, said: “In the first three months of 2009, the service saved the trust £163,000.

“As well as constantly striving to increase the quality of care and to reduce waiting times, our focus is on patient safety and improving the patient experience.

“We believe this service helps patients by reminding them of appointments they may have forgotten, and makes it easier for patients who wish to cancel or rearrange their appointment.

“It has also helped the trust to further reduce waiting times by allowing stand-by patients to use slots that would otherwise have remained empty.”

The service works by contacting patients aged under 65 by automated calls, which ask them to confirm their identity before confirming, cancelling or rearranging appointments.

Patients aged 65 and over get a personal call offering the same service.

Mr Davidson said some specialties, including maternity and genito-urinary medicine, oncology and dialysis, were excluded, as those patients often attended frequently and tended to show up.

Missed appointments cost the NHS more than £600million a year.