I detest the waste of NHS resources caused by would-be patients not turning up to appointments they have booked as much as anyone else.

However, I must challenge the economics of the argument in your comment column (The Argus, August 25).

The salaries paid to doctors, nurses and administrators are overheads and the maximum value should be obtained from all these employees.

But if, for certain times of the day, they are not doing what they are expected to be doing, this does not represent a "cost".

If it did, it would appear on a balance sheet and it cannot. It may be a waste of resources but it is not a cost.

Similarly, it is often reported that policing certain events can cost the public purse thousands of pounds.

But unless overtime is involved, or the officers from another force, then there is no "cost" - the police are merely doing something other than their routine duties.

Your argument would also imply that a bus which was half-full of passengers has cost the bus operator a sum equivalent to the fares of all the empty seats.

But again, that would be false accounting.

-Robert Turtle, Shoreham-by-Sea