LAST Thursday I attended hospital for treatment.

Among other items on a notice board in the waiting area were, "Number of appointments made last month, 1,431, number of non-attended appointments last month, 144."

This equates to ten per cent. What are these non-attendees thinking? Or do they?

Have they not the courtesy/manners to inform the hospital of their intended non-attendance? Or is their problem so minor they should have not been called to attend in the first place?

Do they ever consider what they are doing to our health service? Their absence has prevented a more seriously unwell patient from attending and being treated.

Also what about the cost? I have seen in another hospital that each missed appointment costs £160. Speaking with a hospital clinician I was informed the ten per cent figure was an underestimate.

So what can be done in order to eradicate this non-attendance? I have several suggestions but these would be regarded as against people’s human rights. So let this non-attendance continue until society has no health service at all.

G Roberts