MISS a dentist's appointment and he will charge you. Ignore a court summons and you will be held in contempt and possibly fined or even jailed.

But fail to turn up to the doctors' surgery or hospital and there is no penalty. Hospital staff even have an obligation to rearrange the missing patient's visit for another date.

As a result, thousands of people are choosing to disregard their health care arrangements.

Shockingly, nearly 36,000 doctors' appointments, 20,000 nurse appointments and 6,400 hospital appointments were missed in York in 2004/5.

All it takes to cancel or rearrange is a quick phone call. These figures suggest an outbreak of ignorance and laziness on a depressing scale.

Perhaps some of the missed appointments are down to the patients' fears of what the doctor may tell them.

But this, too, is a form of selfishness.

NHS truants must be made to realise the consequences of their ill manners. If each missed appointment were given to someone who genuinely needed it, waiting lists would be slashed.

The suffering of so many is being unnecessarily prolonged as their diagnosis and treatment is delayed by the disappearing patients.

There is a high financial price to pay, too. The money lost on skipped appointments in York alone could pay for 14 new doctors.

Our National Health Service, struggling to cope with demand, must send out an uncompromising message: strictly no time wasters.

Updated: 11:07 Thursday, August 25, 2005