IT IS A bustling Southampton GP surgery which has more than 4,000 registered patients.

But a huge demand has left the staff at Walnut Tree surgery feeling stretched.

Some 140 appointments were missed at the Carlton Road surgery last month, adding up to to more than 1,735 minutes – a loss of a weeks’ worth of work in just one month.

Staff at the surgery know all too well the frustrations that cancelled appointments cause.

Now they are backing the Daily Echo’s Turn Up Or Tell ‘Em campaign by spreading the word to their patients that not turning up to an appointment puts huge pressures on surgery staff.

As previously reported the campaign was launched after it was revealed that missed appointments cost the NHS £140,000 in Southampton in one month alone.

Patients in the city failed to turn up to 6,300 slots in one month, according to figures from Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), while across the UK 61,000 appointments are missed daily.

And with each appointment costing an average of £23, the wasted time is equivalent to a year’s work for 1,300 doctors, costing the NHS £300 million.

The surgery is spreading the word by putting up posters around its waiting rooms to attract people’s attention and to remind them to keep their appointments or cancel ahead.

Dr Peter Goodall, head GP at the practice, said: “The problem we are finding is that patient expectations are huge.

"Patients expect to be seen within the day but that just isn’t possible.

“Our waiting time for an appointment is one to two weeks.

"That is pretty good compared to some surgeries where people are waiting up to five weeks for an appointment.”

Front of house staff at the practice are also finding it difficult to cope with the demands on the surgery.

Practice manager Janice Freemantle said: “I have been working at the surgery for 20 years and three months ago I was close to leaving.

“There is such a high demand for appointments and when people don’t attend it costs the NHS money, putting pressure on surgeries like Walnut Tree.”