The other week I wanted to see my GP. Now it wasn’t particularly urgent, there were no bits dropping off or in need of repair (that I knew of), but I wanted to see him nonetheless.

I rang on the Monday and was offered an appointment the following Wednesday – ten days hence – in the middle of the afternoon.

Now, there was no desperate need to see him but a wait of ten days? I could have been really ill by then.

When I questioned the receptionist about this she said that, of course, the practice was busy but there would be a sight more time for everyone if fewer people missed appointments, which throws the system into chaos.

Last week Wiltshire GP Dr Helena McKeown was one of a group who proposed charging patients for each appointment.

Their reasoning was that the NHS has become a victim of its own huge success.

The service is so good at keeping us all alive for much longer than our forebears that there are too damn many of us for it to cope.

On its current funding versus patients trajectory it is an unsustainable model.

The GPs told the British Medical Association’s anual conference that charging patients a flat fee for appointments would mean funding outside of political influence and give GPs greater flexibility.

Of course, this suggestion is totally unworkable. The fundamental principle of the NHS is that it is a service that is free at the point of delivery.

It remains one of the greatest achievements of the modern age and no government would seriously consider saddling itself with the burden of being known as the party that junked that legacy.

But what about turning the suggestion on its head and fining patients who don’t show up for their appointment?

It would be simple to operate and monitor and exemptions could easily be appropriately made.

But most of us can just hand over our debit card details when we make our appointment and if we don’t show... kerching, that’s £15 to the NHS.

Would we then be so blase about making appointments we are only half sure we’ll keep?

Last year in GP surgeries alone there were 12 million missed appointments at a cost of £162 million. It’s no wonder doctors barely have time to say how are you and tell you to drink less before they bundle you out of the door.

And it isn’t just in GP surgeries we have a problem either. Great Western Hospital chief executive Nerissa Vaughan said the other week that missed sessions with consultants and in clinics lost the service £5 million last year.

Yes, £5 million. That’s enough to employ several wards full of nurses. Or pay for a couple of weeks’ parking there. If you can find a space.

According to the hospital, 40,000 people failed to turn up for a consultation during 2013-2014.

That is five per cent of all 730,000 outpatient appointments.

Every missed appointment costs the hospital trust £100. Funing wouldn’t recover that loss if a patient didn’t show but it would be a deterrent.

And not only that but how about a three strikes rule?

A trio of missed appointments and then you have to find somewhere else to have your boils lanced.

Standing up your GP, nurse or consultant is selfish and irresponsible. Worse still it wastes money and deprives others of vital care.

It’s about time someone started paying for it.