MORE than 3,000 of all East Lancashire hospital appointments are being wasted by patients who don't bother to turn up, shock new figures have revealed.

Now NHS bosses are to start sending out regular reminders to patients so they have no excuse for missing appointments or failing to cancel them in advance.

The 'Did Not Attend' rate in East Lancashire Hospitals is around 10 per cent, hospital bosses said.

That means that with 34,000 outpatient appointments each month within East Lancashire's hospitals, 3,400 are being skipped.

In some specialities such as paediatrics, which deals with children, 'DNA' rates are particularly high.

When tackled about missed appointments, patients give a variety of reasons, including forgotten appointments, inability to cancel, difficulty getting time off work or worries about being admitted to hospital.

But health bosses say these excuses put an un-needed burden on the NHS.

As well as sending out regular reminders about appointments in advance, new booking centres will be opened so people can check any appointment or re-arrange with just one phone call.

It will be open 12 hours a day - meaning no one has the excuse that they didn't have chance to ring.

Patients will also have greater choice as to when their appointment is. appointments will also be booked nearer to the appointment date to reduce the number of patients who may forget their slot.

Dr Peter Ehrhardt, Medical Director for the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "All doctors and nurses would like to provide a good service for our patients every time. But one thing that makes our job harder is when patients don't attend appointments, especially if we've made special preparations. I'm sure none of our patients wants to make the job harder."