Paying for GP

[Roundhands]

I am very against the idea of paying for GP appointments, and wondering if there are any stats re how this affects people's use of their GP.

For example if Ireland was compared to UK;

What is the comparison for % missed appointments.
How often, on average do people in Ireland see a GP, compared to UK?
Does the difference vary signifianctly in different demographic groups?

Im in Wales and rang for blood test results this morning. Was told my appointment was marked DNA but I and the person who took me know i did attend.

I wonder if a system of taking card details when making an appointment might work so that the appointment is free if you turn up but a no show is charged.

Used to live in the UK, now live in the US. I can get a same-day appointment for any kind of consultation (GP, dentist, OBGYN, etc).

Obviously it’s paid for (by insurance) but I prefer this approach to waiting. I don’t miss wait times one bit.

If it meant I could be seen within 24h for an urgent issue or make an appointment in advance at a convenient time for anything else I would be open to considering it.
I think under 18s should be free though.

I have had patients book their appointment in the 8am scramble and still DNA for a same day appointment. Or mother's who book appointments usually for their son's and then their son refuses to go and they don't cancel. This is face to face appointments.
We send reminders too.

I would bet there’s a big crossover between people who don’t show and people who would be exempt from paying. So it would not do much

I’m in favour of paying. Should’ve been done a long time ago

I am in Ireland and am happy to pay for my GP/Dentist etc. I am lucky with the Practice I am in that normally if I look for a routine appointment I will have it in 48 hours if not sooner. If it is something simple I will have a phone consult often on the same day. Admittedly, I do check with the pharmacy to see if they can sort my issue before I go to the GP and in the majority of my queries they could. Only once in the last two years they could not. I do pay for Private Health Insurance so can also access a set number of online consultations with their own GPs. The best thing is there no race at 8am to try and get a GP appointment. There is also an out of hours GP service that you can attend not linked to the GP I am registered too.

Mine (England) has a 3 hour morning slot for calling in for appointments. These are triaged and you get a call back to say whether F2F, telephone, or sorry no space except for very urgent. I've had to have 3 appointments in as many weeks for a stubborn skin infection, all were given F2F for that day. 1st with a nurse, 2nd with a prescribing senior paramedic, 3rd with a GP - so escalating as required as the condition failed to improve. For the second one they sent me a link to an app where you can download pictures to help with the triage.

Called about something else a few weeks back, was told after being triaged that there were no slots left and that as it was non-critical (it wasn't critical) to see a pharmacist which I did and they sorted me.

I love my current GP surgery.

I was reading a study about the French system (basically you pay upfront then claim back)
they do find people put things off and don’t go because they either can’t pay or can’t justify it. So they do let things get worse.

there’s been times where I couldn’t afford it, (even £10) or where mentally I wouldn’t have spent the money on me - I can definitely see guilt (especially women) about eating into the budget being an issue.

there’s also been times where I was going to the gp once a week for about 6 weeks. Again, I couldn’t afford that.

right now we do have the best of both. If you want or can afford private, you can have it. Can’t afford it, the nhs is there.

I once got a warning letter having missed a GP appointment that I hadn’t made, hadn’t been told about and wasn’t on my account. No letter, email or text. So maybe these missed appts are because the subject was ignorant to their existence