A Swindon GP surgery has taken matters into its own hands after consistent issues with people not attending appointments. 

Ridgeway View Family Practice announced on its social media that a new rule was being introduced in a bid to crackdown on no-showers effective from August 1. 

This comes as over the last three months, the practice has seen a total of 917 appointments missed, which equates to 16,883 minutes or 281 clinical hours wasted. 

When the new policy is introduced, if someone does not attend their appointment they will get a letter reminding them how to cancel.

If they do not attend twice in a 12-month period, they will get a second letter reminding them of their obligation to the practice and explaining if it happens again within the same 12-month period they will be removed from the GP's register.

Sam Oliver, practice manager, said: "The key point I think is that we are a hugely overused service, as are all GP practices.

"Ridgeway View Family Practice is an incredibly busy practice with a slightly older population in Wroughton, many with complex health needs who might be waiting to be seen by secondary care or suffering from multiple medical issues. 

"We do not have unlimited capacity and our staff feel the pressure on a daily basis."

Sam added that each GP at his practice will usually see around 26 patients face-to-face each day, but will complete a number of other tasks during the day as well all of which could be done instead of waiting for missed appointments. 

This can include but is not limited to telephone calls, dealing with blood results, follow ups, corresponding with specialists, daily repeat medication and fit note requests, insurance reports, safeguarding referrals and reports, home visits to end-of-life patients, death certification and coroner reports. 

He added: "We have reached a point where we feel that we needed to take a stance against this and let our patients know that this is not acceptable and we will take action to prevent these patients from further abusing our service. 

"Before taking the appropriate action we will look at each instance on a case-by-case basis and take patient circumstances into account. We would always make allowances for patients with certain medical conditions and in exceptional circumstances but in many cases, there is simply no reason for a patient to DNA an appointment.

Responses to the post online suggest the decision has been met with unanimous agreement from patients and members of the public.