PATIENTS who waste GP appointments should be fined, according to some of Worcestershire's leading GPs.

However, although they are frustrated by the number of people who fail to attend appointments, they admit a fines system would be hard to implement.

A national survey commissioned by Norwich Union Healthcare found a majority of doctors were in favour of fining people who failed to turn up.

More than 15 million GP appointments are wasted in the UK each year. Some practices in Worcestershire have recorded as many as 120 missed appointments a month.

Dr Simon Parkinson, secretary of Worcestershire's Local Medical Committee, said he had voted in favour of a fining system in the past but admitted it would be hard to implement.

"It's a real problem. If someone misses three of four appointments, we still have to give them another," he said.

"People can abuse the system and there's no way of making them value it."

Dr Parkinson said GPs felt strongly that that they needed some way of managing the situation.

"At the moment, you can see a doctor as often as you want for free," he said. "All we can do about people who fail to turn up regularly is remove them from the list.

Evesham GP and fellow LMC member Dr Martin Ounsted agreed it was a major problem but felt implementing a fines system would not be worth it.

"Most people who do not attend are the sort of people who do not have the finances or ability to co-operate with the procedure," he said.

However, some practices have adopted booking systems the reduce the number of missed appointments.

Helen Hartley, practice manager at Haresfield House Surgery in Bath Road, Worcester, said a number of appointments could only be booked on the day the appointment was needed.

"If people book on the same day, it's very rare they forget to turn up," she said.