HEALTH bosses are urgently calling for patients to have their say in shaping ways to solve the crisis caused by 6,300 people failing to show up for GP appointments in Southampton.

Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) warns thousands of people are wasting time and money by failing to keep booked slots each month.

They reveal it leaves frail and vulnerable patients waiting in pain and distress to see a doctor and is piling pressure on staff already stretched to the limit.

Now senior managers are urging people to share their views on how the problem can be tackled. It comes as they back the Daily Echo’s Turn Up or Tell ‘Em campaign after we reported how 6,300 appointments were missed in Southampton in December 2015 which cost the health service £140,000.

Now the CCG has launched an online survey where people can give their views on how difficult they find it to arrange appointments at their respective surgeries and what can be done to improve things.

It also asks people for their feedback on telephone and online services and whether they need changing.

CCG chairwoman Dr Sue Robinson said: “We want people to be able to see their GP or nurse as soon as possible.We also want to hear from local people about how they find access to appointments along with suggestions on how we could make cancelling an appointment easier.

“If people no longer need their appointment, it is really important that they let the practice know so that someone else can book the slot. People can do this by calling the practice or by registering for online access.”

On average each appointment costs the NHS £23.

Across the country 61,000 appointments are lost every day by patients not bothering to showing up.

That is the equivalent in time to a year’s work for 1,300 doctors and Missed appointments costs the NHS more than £300million a year.

As previously reported in the Echo people can visit their respective surgeries to register online for the ability to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions and check their medical history at the click of a button and from the comfort of their own home.

To fill in the survey visit surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GPappointmentssouthampton.