THE startling cost of missed appointments to the NHS in Bradford has been revealed.

Data from NHS England shows more than £1.8 million has been lost between the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which includes the Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital, and the Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

Between January and June, 11,489 people either did not show up for an outpatient appointment at the Bradford Teaching Hospitals trust, or arrived too late to be seen.

The average outpatient appointment costs the NHS £120, according to the latest resources cost data.

This means the missed sessions cost the trust around £1.38 million.

And at Airedale, the figure stands at 6,477 which means missed sessions cost the trust around £777,0000.

With the NHS struggling for funds amid budget cuts and increased demand, the British Medical Association said it was crucial appointments are not wasted while the health service is “under incredible stress”.

Dr Robert Harwood, chairman of the BMA’s consultant committee, said: “It is important that no appointments are wasted at a time when the NHS is under incredible stress.

“We should not stigmatise patients who may for legitimate reasons be unable to attend.

“However, we do need the NHS to emphasise through clear publicity to the public that given the current unprecedented pressure, patients should make every possible effort to rearrange their appointment so that another person is able to receive treatment in their place.”

A spokesperson for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We know there are genuine reasons why some patients miss appointments but it does have a real impact on our work and other patients who are waiting for appointments."

The trust said it uses a centralised booking system to give patients more choice over the time of appointments and encourages patients, where possible, to get in touch if they are unable to attend so it can be rearranged or offered to another patient.

Stacey Hunter, chief operating officer at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust added: “Every penny counts in the NHS, and money wasted on missed appointments could be used to run extra clinics, carry out more operations or provide more community care. We know that patients often have genuine reasons to miss an appointment, but it helps us if they let us know, so that we can offer the appointment slot to someone else. This makes sure we are using our resources as efficiently as possible and helps us to offer faster access to our clinics.”

Both trusts said things like SMS text messages were used to send reminders to patients.

Across health providers in England, almost 2.9 million appointments were missed between January and June, which cost the NHS around £350 million.