It wouldn’t be a bad idea if we paid for GP appointments?

Why do people keep stating that pensioners are likely to be poor. It's simply not true anymore - not for a long time.

Many people don’t understand how different things are & how the changing demographics makes things economically unviable.

Im retired, I still pay tax every month. Do I need to pay more? If so, why?

The payment for missed appointments makes a lot of clinics more efficient because people don't want to pay £45 so call to cancel and the appointments can be offered to someone waiting. I have family that work in HC and it is rare to have missed appointments.

I once got eye surgery with 15 hours notice because someone cancelled - I was happy to get my operation and it was a much better for them not to have the theatre staff twiddling their thumbs

I think charging for missed appointments is tricky to though. A couple of times I've not had the appointment letter until after the appointment. Also with a gp if its a phone call and your told they will ring around 10am but don't ring until 4pm and you don't answer who actually missed the appointment as I was sat by the phone at 10

Nye would spin in his grave to hear the opening poster.

Free at the point of need is the essential bedrock of the NHS. If we have to think twice, three times, before we consult a physician, many, very many of us wouldn't survive.
And there are many families who would have to do that very thing.
I have a real life example of when quick, timeous interaction saves money for the NHS. Some years ago I woke up with a slight ache in my left shoulder blade and tingling in my little left finger. I went to my GP. Had an xray, diagnosed with a tumour in my lung.

a minor issue, at the point I went to the GP. But because my cancer was caught early, I didn't need chemotherapy or radiotherapy or end of life care.

yes I cost the NHS a few scans an an operation. But I saved them the rest.

your idea, in my view, is very very bad.

You may as well make it £11,500 as far as some of the poorest people and/or those who suffer from the worst health are concerned.

It's a bizarre logic: because lots of people have spare money to keep buying takeaway coffees, that must mean that everybody can afford a fiver here, a fiver there - as well as travel and/or parking - for essential medical consultations.

It's like saying that nobody needs food banks, on the basis that Harrods & F&M exist and get a lot of customers.

It does already exist. People pay for private healthcare.

Because if someone has a fixed income from their pension and can't work a bit of overtime to earn a bit more, they are likely to decide to skip getting their pills to save on a tenner that they'd rather spend elsewhere, and end up costing the NHS way more than the £10 prescription charge. We all start falling to pieces a bit after 60 and we are cheapest and easiest to keep healthy if we don't hesitate to seek (appropriate) help when we need it and take the pills we are prescribed without having to penny-pinch

This is very out of touch.

Not every 60 yr old is retired & living off a pension & you understand that plenty of workers can’t just request paid overtime?!

The capped certificate is affordable for many pensioners.

It would worsen the health of many. I do however think people should pay for all missed appointments at hospital or GP.

I think the exemptions would disproportionately affect those who are already the heaviest users.

Upon reflection, I don't think working people need another bash right now. They're propping everyone else up!

Good point

It also wouldn't work well from the otherside either. The gp calling you to come in to discuss test results urgently. Patient: i dont get paid for another 3 weeks il come then.

Many pensioners have worked for years and paid tax and NI already . When you reach 60,you start to get health issues and need the GP often.

Why do people keep stating that pensioners are likely to be poor. It's simply not true anymore - not for a long time.

pensioners belong to the wealthiest cohorts in our society.

We have far more working poor and poverty in working aged people than in pensioner groups.

It seriously is time for them to start paying for the services they are using - and no, they have no already paid - not even close.

I would have reached the £115 limit in a month earlier this year - while I was off work (seeking treatment so I could get back there!) and recieving SSP - £115 is a lot of money when it's what you get in a week on SSP - I simply couldn't have afforded to go as much as I needed to, to different departments for diagnosis and treatment, which would have delayed returning to work, not to mention not being able to afford the prescription after the appointment! A prepayment scheme where you pay the £115 or an amount over the year at a few quid a month and can access when needed would work. better for people in my situation.
I do wholeheartedly agree with charging for missed appointments though - I was at two hospital appointments last month, different departments but there were more than one name called that didn't get a response, sometimes there's circumstances beyond your control - car breaks down, heavy traffic due to an accident etc but if my experience is reflective of the NHS as a whole then that many missed appointments can't all be genuinely last minute situations.

Except the people who tend to use primary healthcare most are the old, young, the poor and ill, who you’re presumably not seeing in those coffee shops…?

The other good thing that they have in Sweden - if you can manage your own transport - is the "Healthcare Guarantee" (Vårdgaranti). If you need a specialist appointment and your own health authority cannot give you an appointment with a specialist within 90 days you have the right to book anywhere in Sweden or go to an approved private provider.

Was about to say exactly the same! A few years ago my family dental bills including orthodontics were second only to my mortgage, a couple of things arose the same year. If we were poorer I'd have had multiple extractions and DD would have a poor bite. We found a way to pay. On top of our private insurance of about 3k per person there is the intial consultant fees of about 200 if we ever did see anyone. I also paid almost 20k over a few years for fertility treatment. It absolutely blows my mind that people just get all this for free. A minimum set fee for earners over a threshold would be the ideal solution i think.

@FenceBooksCycle You make assumptions that people are not on very restrictive work contracts and that overtime is available.

That's simply not true for many in today's workplace.

Pensioners should be paying for their prescriptions, using the yearly prescription if needed.

Oh no,we can't charge people to see a GP.It is already such a financial struggle for so many people in the UK . £5 -£10 is food for the low waged or a pensioner. The well off already have private health care,so let the less well off get free NHS GP appointments please.

For me personally, I have quite a lot of medical issues (I don’t bother the doctor nearly as much as I should do). If I had to pay as well, it would feel doubly rubbish to endure. It’s bad enough having to suffer having all these things every day as it is.

I could just imagine the treads on here. My kids breathing weird. Everyone you need to take him to a&e. The poster: can't afford it

Sound great to the young, healthy and middle class, but in practice that just means the cost falls disproportionately on the old, those with small children, the chronically ill, disabled, the poor (who are more likely to suffer from health conditions related to poor housing, diet and poverty), and those who are basically unlucky, or who just happen to have any condition that requires long-term monitoring and treatment, from allergies or asthma to cystic fibrosis. That’s not so progressive.

Hmm, let's see... you can afford lots of coffee = people should have to pay to see a doctor?

Um, no. Weird line of reasoning.