PATIENTS are missing hospital appointments because they are being arranged sooner than expected.

Under new guidelines, Whipps Cross University Hospital must provide treatment within 18 weeks of the first referral appointment.

However, many patients who do not expect to be seen so soon are failing to turn up.

Sue Edwards, assistant director for critical care and surgery, said: "Unfortunately some patients are not ready to have a date offered to them which could be just a few weeks after they are first seen.

"The problem arises when they say they can attend but then fail to turn up. Clearly that is frustrating, not only because the hospital is working hard to achieve this new target, but because ultimately that slot could have offered to another patient.

"I think we all appreciate that the NHS is changing and that sometimes new initiatives mean patients are caught on the hop but we want people to be prepared to be called for surgery quite quickly once they are seen at their first referral appointment."