A PUB at the heart of one of Southampton’s biggest estates is throwing its weight behind a campaign to ease the pressure caused by thousands of patients failing to turn up for GP appointments in the city.

The Saints Pub in Millbrook serves hundreds of punters from the estate and beyond and passionately supports community and charity events.

Now staff and customers are backing the Daily Echo’s Turn Up or Tell ‘Em campaign laying bare the impact of how those wasting time and resources by not bothering to attend prevents other sick and unwell patients from the chance to see a doctor or nurse and puts extra pressure on already stretched workers.

Pub staff will be putting up posters in the Kendal Avenue boozer and reminding punters of the importance of making appointments or letting practice’s know if they are unable to make it.

As previously reported we launched the campaign after exclusively revealing how 6,300 slots were missed in Southampton in December alone – costing the NHS a shocking £140,000.

It comes at a time the NHS is battling a funding crisis and a shortage of GPs due to doctors retiring and leaving the occupation much more quickly than they can be recruited.

The figures were released by NHS Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which manages the city’s funding towards health.

Pub landlord Eugene McManus has witnessed firsthand the difficulties of having to wait for slots for his elderly parents and said: “It’s very frustrating and worrying for families who are juggling their jobs with the care of an elderly parent or relative. Sometimes by the time the appointments have come around the ailments have gone. People should consider the consequences of their failed appointments on others. If they can’t make it they should make the call.”

He added: “Our punters are aware of the costs of missed appointments and by advertising it in the venue it makes people even more aware.”

On average each appointment costs £23, depending on whether GPs or practice nurses are seen and what treatments are administered.

The CCG is also urging people to share their views on how the problems can be tackled. They are asking people to fill in a survey at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ Across the country 61,000 appointments are lost every day by patients not bothering to show up.

The wasted time is equivalent to a year’s work for 1,300 doctors and costs the NHS more than £300 million.