AIBU - being charged whopping amount for missing appointment.

[NasiGoreng]

I've messed up and messed a private appointment with a GP this morning for my DC. It is not a major health issue, just something that needed doing for my DC. With all the rush back to school I totally forgot about it. It was one of those appointments made about 6 weeks ago due to availability.

Anyway, I just had a call from the hospital to tell me they will be charging me the full amount for missing the appointment. I kind of get this, but why the whole amount? Also, just looked at all the T&C's and it doesn't mention charging for no shows.

I know I am in the wrong, but to be charged the full amount? AIBU. It is a whopping 200 pounds!

Most private GPs will waive the charge (or put it towards a future appointment) even if you call them cancel after the appointment. This probably happened because you didn’t call them at all.

Would suggest if it’s just a private GP you want to see that you use a mobile app. Far cheaper and you often pay upfront so know exactly how much you’ll lose. They can also refer you onwards to your GP if needed.

how much would it have been if you'd turned up?

Wondered how long it would be before it all became the fault of your NHS GP.

What a surprise

And saying it’s a piss take for just looking at a wart- you knew what you were going for. Your choice.

The NHS has finite resources. GPs are not allowed to refer warts to secondary care (on the whole) and no longer get paid for freezing them in primary care so why should they do it unpaid?

This is no ones fault - it’s life
And be thankful a wart even tho annoying is a self limiting thing that will go on its own given time.

Also, try google.
The major dermatology departments have leaflets on how you can treat using duct tape covers. It’s more successful than liquid nitrogen and costs the price of a trip to B&Q for a roll of the tape.

And about ‘ I’m going to be more forceful with my GP.’

Why not drop in ‘I pay my taxes- you work for me’
They love that one.

It costs the NHS around £175 for no shows, they always stress to notify at your earliest convenience so that they can offer the appointment to someone else. People being careless and not attending is one of the reasons the NHS is so stretched. We have a fantastic healthcare system that seriously needs more respect.

Morally, yes you should pay them for being a no-show. However, legally, if they have not written anything in their contract when you signed up regarding no-shows you can try and argue it with them that they cannot enforce it upon you if you did not know that this was a policy.

The NHS will send you texts to remind you of appointments and remind you of the cost if you do not attend, you often receive between 2-3 texts before your appointment. I'm surprised a private practice doesn't have such a service.

Thanks Zilla. I'll follow that process and see what happens.

So actually you still think asking you to pay the full cost isnt acceptable :(
How on earth do you think that slot will have been filled seen that you never called to cancel? They would have waited for you to turn up and then they would have had no time for another patient. No way they could have called someone at short notice to tell them to come

It’s about time the NHS started doing this

Yes, being forceful with your GP will definitely get things done for you. Alternatively they'll just think you're an arse and you'll get the polite bare minimum.

NHS charge for appointments missed,it warns you in your appointment letter,if you miss your appointment you could be charged £50

Unless you give 48 hours notice you are liable for a fee. If you can point out no mention of it, they may let you off with less.
I have known opticians and dentists vary. My local private optician will not charge if a genuine reason ,like being ill.
It just depends.

Unfortunately the NHS is in such dire straits that it is common for them to not treat stuff that isn’t going to kill you. The NHS couldn’t afford Men B jabs for my dc (slightly outside the age range), it’s purely cost. I paid a private GP several hundred for both kids to get the vaccine and booster.

The private outfit have costs and you can’t really expect to miss an appointment and not pay. The person you were booked in with had their time wasted. It wasn’t cancelled so they could resell the appointment, it was just missed and wasted. You forgot so why should their business suffer? I can appreciate why you forgot as we are all so busy but that doesn’t help them.

The fact that their waitlist is 6 weeks is an indication of the size of the problems healthcare faces and an indication of the fact that they could have resold your appointment.

Constructively, there may be some sort of health care professional you can visit without going via the GP. My ds had an issue, similar ish to this and I was able to visit a practitioner without a referral. Not a consultant doctor obviously, but these types of problem don’t need them. I would start a new thread to find out who/how you go about fixing this.

A quick google gives this:

beta.sknclinics.co.uk/wart-and-verruca-removal-in-southampton

Your time would be better spent looking for people to solve your dc’s problem. Not fighting a charge which you incurred because you were too busy to remember your appointment. It is not unfair for them to charge you although it is obviously very gutting for you.

Good luck, OP.

1. I presume this is not UK NHS, rather a private GP that operates outside the NHS.

2. I don't presume the GP sat twiddling their thumbs for the duration of the appointment though realise it is possible. Equally, it is possible another patient was seen when the OP didn't check in. I presume it is possible no additional patients were seen. Depending on how this GP manages their clinics, it may be possible that they saw an additional patient (drop in or equivalent to a request for an urgent appointment) or that they might be willing to waive the fee if asked. If the OP doesn't ask, they won't know.

I am genuinely horrified by how many people on this thread think it's fine to not pay if the business hasn't specifically spelled out that they should.
Is that morally right?
Is that a nice thing to do?
The op has cost the practice £200. They gain nothing by her not showing. Her not showing was her fault entirely.
And some people seem to think it's fine not to pay. It's actually shocking. Could we go as far as stealing?

If you miss an appointment with our dentist you are still sent a bill for the time and also taken off their list. I wish NHS would charge for missed appointments.

The OP was asking for advice whether it reasonable to be charged the full amount. I felt it was fine to advise the OP to ask some questions. For all the OP knows, this private GP might have filled the appointment with another paying customer. Or the GP or locus might have been able to leave early aso the practice had obviated costs and only 'lost' the slice of 'profit' rather than all the £200.

I know some businesses who love cancellations as the cancellation fees are 'pure profit' when they fill the equivalent of these slots. I know some who find cancellations more profitable than doing the work as they don't incur any costs (in this case, the GP didn't use any consumables or medications and equivalent though I realise these might be trivial in this case.).

Try alcohol hand gel on it - gets rid of warts and verrucas in no time at all. Pop it on at bedtime and leave overnight

zilla really?! All that extra admin for OP and the clinic? I'd hope they charge per letter if you pull that rubbish!

It’s a pity nhs missed appointments can’t be charged. You forgot, so you need to pay

This is ridiculous. So the doctor should..... Free of charge..... Because you didnt bother to remember to show up?

You are having to pay (obviously) for the doctors fee that they could have used to have seen another patient who did attend and pay.

It sounds like it has actually been effective too in putting you off doing this again?

Absolutely support the NHS. I am sorry your experience wasn't good. However I got a thought reading your experience how much of a good idea it would be if they charged people for non attendance (unless having a very good reason, such as dementia, say).

You need to pay up.

.... *so the doctor should sit there...

To those saying patients should pay nhs for missed appointments. That'd be marvellous, but...dh is a dentist, 95% of his no-shows are from those who dont pay for their appointments anyway, and wouldn't have the money to pay a fine.

^Why not drop in ‘I pay my taxes- you work for me’
They love that one.^

At our Dr's they have a board up that says how many no shows they'd had the previous month. Its always hundreds. It takes 3 weeks to get an appointment so I imagine a lot of issues resolve themselves in that time. But then people don't cancel them and just don't show so it continues to take 3 weeks to get an appointment.