AN MP in East Lancashire has called for people who repeatedly miss GP appointments, without good reason, to be fined.

Around 3,000 dates with doctors are missed in Blackburn with Darwen alone each month, according to figures released by clinical commissioners.

And a number of medical centres in the area are known to publish statistics on how many patients are not honouring their surgery slots.

Now Rossendale and Darwen MP Jake Berry has questioned Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt over whether those who regularly fail to attend can still be charged for causing inconvenience to practice staff and a financial loss to the health service.

Speaking during a questions session in the House of Commons, Mr Berry, said: “Some GP practices in east Lancashire have, through sheer frustration, started publishing the number of missed appointments.

“When will the Secretary of State consider giving GPs the power that they want, and that the public want them to have, to charge those who miss repeated GP appointments, including in East Lancashire?”

Replying to the point, Mr Hunt, said: “I have sympathy for people who are frustrated about that issue. As I have said before, my objection is not one of principle.

“It is whether it is practical to do it. Perhaps that is something that GPs could decide at a local level.”

Some managers at East Lancashire practices have reported that up to 20 per cent of their appointments time is lost to non-attenders.

Blackburn with Darwen Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) also launched an awareness campaign last summer to highlight the issue, which is estimated to cost the wider East Lancashire health economy tens of thousands of pounds each year.