PATIENTS costing the NHS £50 every time they do not turn up for an appointment should be fined.

That is the suggestion from one Hampshire resident who is amazed at the amount of money lost by the health service each year, just by thoughtless patients "forgetting" to cancel unwanted appointments.

In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight last year there were 75,000 missed appointments, costing the NHS somewhere in the region of £3.5m.

This money could have been spent on extra beds, more staff, life-saving equipment and improving the environment of our county's hospitals.

The Daily Echo You Can Help Your NHS campaign, which is being fully backed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and health secretary Alan Milburn, aims to save the health service £500,000, by encouraging people to think a little more about their actions.

Cancelling an appointment you cannot make, you are saving the health service £50. By returning a pair of crutches you no longer need, you are saving £12 for the NHS.

By being polite to staff, you are creating a better working environment, meaning less staff feel they need to go off sick, or leave their jobs - meaning more patients can be treated, more quickly.

We are asking members of the public for their ideas on how to save the NHS cash as part of our campaign.

Pat Hodson, of Testbourne Close, Totton, is just one of those who contacted the Daily Echo after we revealed the shocking amount of NHS money wasted every year.

She said: "I am concerned about the loss of money to the health service due to people not attending appointments which have been made for them.

"Would it not be feasible for a reply slip to be sent with each appointment and a date given for acceptance by the patient?

"If the patient accepts and then does not attend, there should be a fine and that patient goes to the end of the list."

Mrs Hodson, 66, added: "My National Health dentist asks for 24 hours' notice from a person being unable to attend and fines his patients £20 for a missed appointment without this notice, unless he considers their failure to be for a very good reason.

Diane Lockwood, outpatient department service manager for medicine and elderly care at Southampton General Hospital, said it was a good idea, but very difficult to put into practice.

She said: "We have thought about reply slips, but what a lot of patients do is cancel very near the appointment time."