Would you pay to see the doctor?

[justasking111]

The IMF has said that the government will need to raise taxes. One way is NHS charges. This will be means tested I should add. It's being covered in the financial times, telegraph and others but hidden behind a pay wall. I don't know how to archive, if anyone else does please do.

I don't know which one I would choose, it's a thorny problem.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/25/raise-taxes-working-people-charge-for-nhs-imf/

Many people would just not go to the GP, if they had to pay. If it’s a choice between food and a doctor’s appointment, what would you do?

@justasking111 @cremedelacraps I see no reason why hospital patients shouldn't pay a charge for meals. If people are in hospital, they aren't having to buy food. However, again, if there were a charge, the patient would have the power to complain about poor quality.

I'd rather not, but I'd support some kind of system where you get fined if you miss an appointment.

Sounds like a great way to prevent people on low incomes but who don't qualify for benefits accessing a GP when they need to.
I mean I don't have the luxury of choosing if I'm willing to pay, if I don't have the money to pay when I need it then I won't be able to go, me being willing has very little to do with it.

Although I already can't afford to be ill if it means time away from work and I have to sometimes wait to afford to pay for the prescription if I need, so I guess if I can't afford the fee to see the GP in the first place I won't have the prescription charges will I, and if it's something I need time off work for I guess I'll just have to keep turning up with whatever is wrong with me until I can afford to pay to see the GP for a fit note.

Guess because I'm on a low income I'll just have to not be ill somehow, but being a human I don't know how I can avoid that completely. 🤷🏼‍♀️

This is already the case in Australia, with the shrinking provision of bulk-billed, i.e. free GPs.

It will happen in the UK. Be warned.

No, it's a slippery slope.

It would not be anywhere near the top of my list of NHS new or increased charges.

I would raise the free prescription age say to 70 or 75, agree with the ambulance charge, and would have appointment letters sent electronically unless you opt in to receiving them in the post, with the option of a text message instead.

What you say is interesting. I have a couple of Aussies on my team at present and they are absolutely horrified about the difficulty of getting an NHS appointment, the difficulty of getting anything treated and the attitude of the NHS support staff they have had to deal with. According to them, if they are sick in Australia, they get a same day appointment and there is far more diagnostic testing available at the Dr's surgery/office. They categorically state services in Australia are head and shoulders above those in the UK.

the problem is how much money would it actually raise? If the means testing is anything like prescription charges, only a small fraction of people will be liable and so it won’t raise much money. If they narrow the criteria for an exemption then some frequent visitors might get hit badly.

This is just one of the reasons I’ve lost trust in the Labour Party. For me, they were the party who looked after the vulnerable, sick, elderly, disabled. Now they don’t appear to care at all.

Charging for GP appointments is indeed a slippery slope and it’s not a slope I want for our country. I feel betrayed by Labour’s politics.

Absolutely not. This is a route to discrimination. People won't go to the GP for minor issues - they will then become major. All the research from countries that use systems like this see it, someone leaves an issue till they have an emergency and then have to get an ambulance, A&E and a lobg-term hospital admission which costs more than the initial issue. Also disabled people will be discriminated against because they need to see doctors more, already many struggle with paying for medication (having to ration it which is dangerous for things like insulin) and then get worse, they will then not get scans or surgeries they need. Then there's the class discrimination. What about the 4.5 million in child poverty, those kids won't see doctors. What about BAME populations more likely to live in deprivation? Also women, particularly single mothers, postpartum? Their mental health will likely worsen, they won't be able to sacrifice food on the table for the doctors - so they will get sicker and it will cost more in the long-term. What about the elderly (yes some are well-off) but othera are very poor abd have nobody to look after them. There's so much research on why this would 1. Increase health inequality massively 2. Cost more in the long-run 3. Lead to more overall inequality and deprivation in communities in general e.g lack of advice on alcohol or nutrition in these communities. I understand we need a better NHS (there are things we can do), and people deserve better service but this would just be a horrible thing to do. You can say only £20 (but would that even be enough, and then the price will just get higher). Right now GP's get on average £110 per appointment. So will it be that much. Also for loads of families £20 per appointment will be too much, they are barely eating or not paying bills.

I’ve paid to see a dr before for a second opinion who was the one to diagnose my cancer, prior to that had, had a lot of appts at the gp where I’d be dismissed nothing investigated. I question in situations like that how it would work, would I get a refund? Or am I just paying for like ten appts of being dismissed, I’m open to the concept of paying, I’ve done it before. But I’d want a more thorough service though.

Sorry to quote but this is a great post, making excellent points.

@Maverickess your post is contradictory. If you are well enough to go to work, you surely don't need to pay for a sick note. Whenever I have been too ill to go to work, I have been too ill to do more than lie on the sofa or bed watching TV and certainly wouldn't have managed the drive to work or the two trains to get there.

I agree. I'm a Pom and my God the NHS looks a bit cack. Here I can get an appointment the same day, though not with my regular GP as many are PT. I can get same-day testing at the path lab next door (free).

Yes, they are better. I've not broken down the costs and to be fair I'm not short of a bob or two to throw at issues, but I'm still amazed at what is free.

I am so sorry for your loss @doglikescheeseontoast.

Sadly it's not the first story like that I've heard, either.

If we could get any sort of decent service, then yes I would.

Yes because there are too many people who regard ambulances as free taxis.

I would. I already pay for dentist and optician appointments and physio. Yes I am lucky to have the income to do this.

But I suspect that like prescription charges, very few people will have to pay. Pensioners won't, children won't, people on certain benefits won't, there would probably be exemptions for diabetics or similar diseases which need monitoring or at least a prepayment package like you get with prescriptions..

I also think if I was paying, i would be more likely to go as I would be of the mind that I wasnt wasting precious nhs resources on a niggle, but that I was paying for a service and was entitled to be there. So I think paying would increase demand for some people.

Iv always said this i would happily to pay to feed myself in hospital

I would if I could but I’m struggling financially

The NHS app is excellent. It’s secure. Much better to use this for all people who want to than letters that arrive too late

A not means tested no show fee might help many places

I'm not aware that there are any doctors any more. It's not been possible to see or even contact our doctors for years. You can call them repeatedly at 8am if you like but this is now more of a mystic rite, kept up by the village elders.

Just like everything else, I'm increasingly uncertain that any services actually operate. Do the police exist? Does the council? What do they do? We never see them. The town hall is always closed. There's no police station. They don't investigate crime. The doctor doesn't answer the phone. There are holes in all the roads and the rubbish blows across the grown out verges. The buses are all cancelled and so are 1/3 of the trains.

Does the government, in fact, function? Or is it just on TV. I think maybe it's just on TV and in London.

By October all GP surgeries should have an online booking system and reserve phone calls for elderly (the surgeries I know will just input anything they say onto the online form for them). The government did a contract with all GP surgeries, so now they should be moving away from phones. Hopefully it helps.