Over 800 Dorking Hospital no-shows in one month

More than 800 missed appointments and short notice cancellations have been recorded at a Surrey hospital in one month.

Dorking Hospital saw 501 missed appointments and 312 cancelled by patients with less than 24 hours' notice in September, BBC Surrey has learned.

In 2025-26, 1,620 first appointments were not attended at the hospital, according to NHS outpatient data.

Dr Stewart Tomlinson, medical director at Dorking Healthcare, said: "We can estimate it's about £160 per missed appointment. Thinking about Dorking, every month that's approximating £120,000 - over a £1m a year in lost NHS funding."

The community hospital provides a range of outpatient clinics, inpatient care, diagnostics and rehabilitation services.

It is managed in partnership with local NHS providers, such as Dorking Healthcare and Surrey Downs Health and Care.

Tomlinson suggested there were multiple factors which could result in missed appointments.

These range from late buses and lack of trains, to missed invitation letters or a lack of access to text messaging or digital platforms for older patients.

He said his primary concern was that patients might have been referred by their GP due to concerns about medical conditions which needed further attention.

They would need to be offered another appointment, impacting NHS wait times, he told BBC Radio Surrey.

"I completely understand why the public are frustrated when figures like this are highlighted because it has an enormous cost implication," he said.

"For those people who've been waiting many, many months to be seen, they're frustrated they couldn't be seen earlier."

Tomlinson said the NHS was using technology like text reminders and developing the NHS app to help the problem.

However, he urged patients to notify the service if they could not attend so their appointment could be switched or turned into a telephone or video call.

Before becoming prime minister in 2022, Rishi Sunak scrapped his Conservative Party leadership campaign pledge to fine patients in England £10 if they missed GP or hospital appointments after it was decided it was "not the right time".

When asked if a similar approach could help, Tomlinson said he was a "strong believer" that the NHS should be free at the point of access for patients.

"When people talk about introducing fines, we need to look at if there are ways of making it easier for cancellation or rescheduling," he said.

"The issue is much more complex than just the implications of a fine if you don't appear on the day.

"What we don't want is to create additional workload for GPs in needing to re-refer."

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