Missed hospital appointments have cost East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust more than £41 million over the past five years according to data .

Between 2019 and 2023, a staggering 257,029 appointments were missed at the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, with patients failing to attend their scheduled visits, the study by messaging firm Esendex showed.

These missed appointments, referred to as “Did Not Attend” (DNA), are estimated to have cost the trust £41,124,640.

Finances were calculated based on the NHS’s data which shows that missed appointments cost £160 each.

While the pandemic in 2020 saw a slight reduction in the number of missed appointments - 43,818 in total - the numbers surged again in 2022, reaching a peak of 58,691.

The NHS states DNAs are often due to reasons outside of the patient's control, and is often linked to health inequalities.

In February 2023, a national scheme aimed at reducing DNAs set out actions for providers and systems to reduce missed appointments based on good practice.

These included sending appointment reminders to patients, improving contact access, improving booking processes, and implementing digital enablers and senior awareness.  

Following the introduction of this practice, ELHT showed a marked improvement, with 50,658 appointments missed, bringing the figure below the national average of 52,700.

However, even despite the improvements, it still cost the trust £8.1m in 2023.

Chris Gorman, head of professional services at Esendex, said: “Missed appointments are hugely frustrating for everyone in healthcare - not least for organisations like the NHS which has to shoulder the financial and administrative burden of no-shows.”

Nationally, almost 26m appointments were missed across the 102 NHS trusts, estimated to have cost the NHS more than £4 billion.

The new Labour government has pledged to deliver 40,000 extra weekly NHS appointments to reduce waiting times which would be achieved by having neighbouring hospitals share waiting lists, supplying additional capacity from the independent sector and incentivising NHS staff to work extra evenings.

However, a new report by the NHS Confederation said they would need to provide 33.6 million outpatient appointments by 2028/29 to bring the waiting list back to meeting the 18-week level.

East Lancashire Hospital Trust has been contacted for comment.