Petition Fine patients who fail to attend hospital/gp appointments without giving prior notice.

All hospitals in England and Wales have an 18 week referral to treatment guideline which they must meet in order to see and treat patients within 18 weeks. Hospitals everywhere are struggling to meet these deadlines, especially in Orthopaedics, I think that if a patient fails to turn up for an offered outpatient appointment without giving prior notice, they should be given a small fine such as £30 or £50, this will encourage patients to attend appointments or cancel them if they don't need them. This money could be put back into the NHS to buy equiptment etc and also reduce the waiting times for appointments and help hospitals to meet deadlines set by the Department of Health so that they are not getting fined as much, saving them money which could be better spent elsewhere.