Paying 50p to See Your GP?
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I can see why the nhs are keen to charge a fee, as they hope to stop time wasters. But is it reasonable to charge?
The charge would certainly discourage the time wasters - would you believe that 42% missed booked appointments for breast scans in my area? The only point that would worry me is that this could be the start and the charge would rise making life much poorer for, already struggling, patients.
I think any charge should be discretionary but I would be very disappointed to find that decent minded people would refuse to pay.
Either people shape up and cancel apps they no longer need or pay up for what their thoughtless actions cost the rest of us. Especially when so many people struggle to get an app these days.
I do appreciate that I sound harsh and more than a little angry but sometimes I feel I just cannot stand anymore of the human condition that is so selfish, greedy and couldn't care less about anyone but themselves. It makes me weep with anger and frustration. Sorry
Lynibis Don't apologise for stating what most of us are thinking. I also agree with your other comment that some will always find money for the things that are important to them. I didn't see your thread on £5 charge but then I've been looking for your old topic on 'what annoys you' without success.
That’s sad to hear, knowing that there are people who have to wait weeks for an appointment and then there are those who obviously don’t care. Such a shame. It spoils it for everyone
I recently started a thread about this but suggested a charge of £5 to see the doctor and voluntary donations when attending casualty departments. The charge would be discretionary if folk were poor or on benefits. I was shot down in flames but personally I would sooner pay a fiver each time I saw the doc, or as a penalty for wasting time by not showing up, than losing the nhs altogether.
What you are referring to is a doctor who wants to introduce the 50p charge and she stated the following: the cost to the nhs for missed appointments is the equivalent of over 300 surgeries open every day, fully staffed and not seeing one single patient, each year.
That is absolutely disgusting and those people who don't bother cancelling should definitely be fined.
A presenter said the 50p charge could cause hardship. But I bet those same people will still find money for cigarettes, booze or weed etc
I understand where you’re coming from. However, the nhs would never issue fines, as they do not have the capacity to chase the money, and would most likely waste money outsourcing. But something definitely should be done with time wasters, although any form punishment would be considered radical
I think that charing £5 would be a great idea as maybe the time wasters will think again about booking an appointment for something minor or at least a donation would help
No way I would I do that as I have to go every month due to my chronic conditions
Then you probably are not guilty of missing apps and I think any charge would have to take into account how often a person needs to attend.
LauraKennedy686 I cant work and have no money. Yes it is a LOT to me. I often have to go twice a month plus all the hospital visits on top of that, but even 50p a month is a lot when you have nothing. I even have to pay for my prescriptions as I don’t qualify for free.
You can’t say it’s not a lot when I will be going at least (often twice a month) for the rest of my life and can’t work!
its nothing TO YOU, it is a lot of people
I think that if someone has a form of chronic illness that means they are at the dr often then they should be exempt from such a charge. Would it just be for a normal dr or would it include specialists?
I had to take my son last week as he had a fever. They saw him within 15 minutes of me phoning and he was then sent to a&e and seen quickly due to his medical history. I would have happily paid 50p given how quickly he was seen to, the fact he got an x ray and was given antibiotics. The drs have always been brilliant with my son, so I wouldn't mind paying a small fee. For example we get free prescriptions in Scotland, my son has had a lot of prescriptions for different things and a number of them have to be ordered in specially. If I was told I had to pay a small amount for his prescription then I would happily do it. He needs these medicines and I guarantee they will be expensive!
Children in England, I think 16 and under or in education, get free prescriptions and those over 60 or with chronic illnesses. I myself have benefited from this greatly since turning 60 and developing thyroid problems. I feel a bit bad getting other prescriptions free and would happily pay a small charge even being older, however I do feel £8 plus is a lot for many folk, especially if 2 or 3 items are needed. I would happily pay say £4 to offset the charge for everyone.
Lynibis I agree £8 is a lot, if it was £8 for the 2 or 3 items that wouldn't be as bad. I needed a prescription when I was pregnant, it was an item you could buy over the counter but weren't allowed to due to being pregnant so it had to prescribed. I felt bad about that as if I wasn't pregnant I would have happily bought it, but I understood why I wasn't allowed, so I would have happily paid a few pound each month for it.
I have chronic illnesses and go 1-2 times a month to my gp plus hospital visits. I don't agree with a charge.
ukheather I did say that I thought it should be discretionary for those who need to go often, and I am sure people like that and yourself are not in the habit of just not showing up.
If the prescriptions you need are lifesaving you should be able to get them free, I would ask about it.
ukheather yes that does seem very unfair, that is why I would feel happy to pay a certain amount for mine if it helped other folk. I feel quite strongly that even pensioners, if they are wealthy, should not have free travel, prescriptions and heating allowances. I am far off being wealthy but could afford half the current fee.
MrsCraig unfortunately doesn't say that here, it lists the conditions that qualify https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/help-with-health-costs/get-help-with-prescription-costs/
You should do though, unfair that some do and others don't
That's cheap, if worth it, but it's random luck.
A lot of folks abroad will pay €25-60 just to know the opinion and recommendations given by a doctor.
lt would be a slippery slope. While on the face of it 50p doesn't seem like very much, it would be setting a precedent that it's OK to charge for NHS services. As we saw with higher education tuition fees, the initial yearly cost was set at up to £3,000 in 2004, but this had tripled by 2010/11. Plus, the amount of money students were required to pay back had also increased. With the NHS a similar thing would probably happen, fees would likely be increased within a couple of years and more NHS services could also introduce a fee. You just have to look at the state of hospital parking to see how things could go. It would be better to charge individuals for not turning up to GP appointments rather than charging everyone 
Yes, I can see how they’d want to start charging for different services as time goes by, and before you know it we would have privatised services
It does defeat the whole concept of the NHS being free at the point of use. I'm totally against any kind of privatisation or paying NHS services (we're already seeing it in our area with health visitor services and triage of referrals now run privately, and the profiteering from the car park charges is awful). It basically starts to take the pressure off the government when it should all be coming out of their budget.
The wasted appointments is a different issue, if there was a scheme where you paid a deposit to book then got it back when you turn up or cancel within a certain timeframe, I would happily support that.
Personally I would take issue with any direct charge. We all pay for the NHS through our taxes already. The fact that the government are incompetent and misuse the enormous amount of money that we all pay in both direct and indirect taxes is just the symptom of a broken system.
If you let a charge like this happen it will be the thin end of the wedge and the society will be the poorer for it. The charge will increase exponentially and those who cannot afford it will no longer be able to access medical attention, so we will be back on the dark ages.
I certainly don’t agree with people wasting valuable appointment time but why should we all suffer financially because of those who abuse the system when plenty of people abuse other government systems without repercussions, politicians included. 
Yes, one f the reasons I avoid getting medication from the nhs, as some of the very basic ones you can get directly from the chemist is a fraction of the price
I do, i was shocked by the amount of people who don't turn up to appointments. I rarely see my gp but its so frustrating when you need a same day appointment but can't get one so this might help. We are lucky to have the NHS I do think we take it for granted and people misuse it
As below think it would discourage time. Wasters though still £1.
But I think the money should stay in the practice
no, we already pay in the form of taxes for the nhs. It's not free now. I'm not paying to see their over paid quacks. I used to work for NHS and I've multiple medical conditions for which they have never helped me, so I have nothing good to say about the NHS. I'm biased after spending 17 years working for local gov and NHS.
I don’t think 50p will deter people from keeping their appointment. If they fine people then the gp practice would have to have a debt collection department and be prepared to sue patients. Only solicitor would benefit!
I would like to apply a charge for the waiting time myself - there was one time my GP was over half an hour late, which meant everyone in the waiting room waited over an hour to see him. And then there was the time he was meant to turn up but eventually the receptionist announced he wasn’t coming in. Time wasting is indeed something the nhs are guilty of as well
hspexy I waited today 30 min for my 90 min midwife appointment which last 2 hours.... I got so tired...
hspexy do not think anyone should be charged. There are homeless people who should be able to get healthcare services too. Also kids, they only can turn up with their parents.
Also it happened with me before that they booked my appointment and I turned up and than they told that it is 50 min later. The person who booked it wrote the time in my book and that was the time I turned up, but she booked a different appointment on the system. Human error....I would not like to pay for something like that.
Just punish people who not turn up....if they have no reason.
I’m part of the poorer population, I see no issue whatsoever with paying 50p to see a GP or nurse, I find it crazy that I have to pay £30 to see my dog’s vet but it’s free for me to go to the human equivalent 
but I go to the doctor maybe once a year...
Lol yes animals pay the premium price to be seen to, and the medication is on some next level financial scale, not that my cats enjoy the experience ...
While I agree about time wasters I had the situation where I attended an appointment only to be told the appointment was cancelled, they'd phoned me about 20 minutes before the appointment time but it takes me about 30 minutes to walk there and I prefer to walk for my health rather than take my car for such short journeys. They automatically booked me another appointment but never told me about it so I failed to attend (no surprise). I've also witnessed many angry patients complaining of various issues with their appointments. The clinic in question may potentially be closed due to poor management. I was actually sitting in the waiting room when they had various people walking around discussing refurbishing the waiting room which would cost many thousands even though they haven't got the core services right and are not providing appointments for people or cancelling those that have booked correctly. The waiting room is actually very nice as is too with great lighting and furniture in great condition no reason to refresh it at all. From my perspective the clinic needs to improve its processes and efficiency maybe some additional staff training rather than make cosmetic changes. Also I think my clinic automatically calls in the next person if a person hasn't booked in when they get to the clinic and there are signs everywhere stating make sure you book in on the computer or desk before sitting down and the doctors are still often running late. So I'm unsure what effect missing patients actually have as I can't see how the efficiency of the surgery is impacted. The doctors don't seem to review my patient notes until I'm with the doctor. Don't get me wrong I'm not defending the poor attitude of patients who don't phone to cancel appointments but like anything if you take one side only you are not getting the full perspective. I'm sure if all the patients came forward to say how they had been mucked about by clinics with regard appointments there may be some interesting data on that side too.
So bear in mind many so called non attended appointments may simply be because of errors of staff at various clinics or poor policies. We all know the NHS is under resourced and will likely get worse in the future as the UK's financial situation deteriorates and more services get rationed. You cannot expect the NHS to stay the same with the UK's level of debt and a large trading deficit.
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/inadequate-yeovil-gp-surgery-could-3410684
I have experienced this myself recently.
I was referred to an outsourced appointment (very posh). I booked in 25 minutes BEFORE hand and duly completed the forms they gave me. Half an hour AFTER the appointment I asked the receptionist about the doctor running late, only to be told that he was on time and that they didn’t know I was there but that they would now see me next! Human error around the takeover time! Not impressed.
This is a backward step . You used to have to pay for the doctor to come out to you . The NHS was set up to alleviate hardship and ensure everyone had equal access to health services.
The poorer amongst us may not have even 50p at times which means they would not be able to access a gp when needed.
There must be a better solution than to insert ‘back door’ charges
which could eventually increase Over time .
Nobody complains about dental nhs charges and if you miss 2 appointments the dental practice remove you from their list. I think it's the only way some people will change their behaviour. 50p will not really deter serial appointment missers
I would pay 50p to get a same day appointment
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