To ask if you would pay for GP visits

[justanotherhappyflunkie]

Been talking with various friends who all agree they would rather pay a nominal sum to see a GP rather than the current system.

I have lived in a country that does this (free for children, disabled people, discounts for beneficiaries and long term sickness) and it was great. Same day appointments, good range of doctors, quick referrals.

The UK equivalent of this would be around £20 per visit.

AIBU to suggest it is the system that could help the NHS? prepares for a flaming!

I pay £8600 per year for private health cover and I would pay for a NHS GP appointment if I had to.

But what do you class as low income? There is no magic line where everyone above can afford everything and everyone under can’t. It depends on everyone’s individual circumstances and can change from one month to the next.

I think the hope would be that by those who can paying for it, it would improve services for everyone especially those with long term health issues and disabled people being able to access as GP without them paying.

Ultimately i agree with others that charging for appointments will just mean that people delay seeing the doctor, this will mean more people in poor health who are unable to work, we already have a labour shortage, the government cannot afford to let large numbers of people fall ill, they need as many of us as possible to be fit and healthy and available to work.

all low income, beneficiaries and long term ill/ disabled people were either seen free of charge or heavily discounted

This is probably the vast majority of GP appointments anyway?

I saw someone point out on another thread that almost all prescriptions are free in England as they are free to various groups like pensioners, people with chronic health needs etc. I guess it’s an interesting thought - is it that people who do have to pay reduce how much they use and how often they get a prescription so that they are basically rarely using the device or is it that those groups have such a low need anyway?

The comparison was based on £25,000 for someone with no children as being the threshold

Yes but only if I could get same day appts when necessary or next day and if rhe receptionists stopped rudely interrogating on why I wished an appt.

I already pay tax for rhe nhs. So am already paying for the visit.

Yes I fully agree with this and in 11 years of living overseas this was always the case.

I'm conflicted over this because yes, I would pay £30/40/50 if that's what was required and it meant I could get better or quicker care.

But if "people like me" do that, what will the rest be left with?

Recently I have considered investigating private GP services but I haven't for this reason.

If it was £20 I would pay it like a shot. But it wouldn't be £20 for long, because the real cost of providing readily available appointments is much higher than that.

In Ireland you can see your GP fairly quickly (it used to be on the day but they are struggling now). It will cost you €60, plus the cost of any prescription, tests etc. My concern is that if charges were introduced in the UK, primary care would go the same way as dental care.

Yes, I would pay. And I would hope that such a system would be means tested so that people who can’t afford it don’t have to pay.

I’ve had to pay £40 for a private online consult twice in the last year because I couldn’t get a GP appointment, so personally I’d be no worse off!

Do you realise that £20 is some people's entire food budget for a week?
So yes you might be happy to do that, fine. But what does it mean for those who literally couldn't access medical care?

Only if the service was greatly improved, i.e. more flexibility for appointment times, the GP seeing you somewhere near the appointment time, proper diagnosis instead of fobbing you off, longer appointment times, etc., compensation/repayment if they cancel or are running excessively late, etc.

But for the current offering, no way.

Also.i don't think.everyone over 60 should get their prescriptions free tbh. Loads of 60+ are still working. Obviously if you're on pension credit it should be free like it should be if you get universal credit but I think it would save quite a bit.

Yes. I work in the NHS and due to my shift work I can never get at appointment or hang about on the phone at 8am for days on end. This means I basically have no GP service.
However I am totally opposed to any more privatisation of the health service.

This is why the health service has been chronically unfunded since 2010. When it stops working the whole principle comes into question.

When I had to pay for GP appointments (in another country) I would save up all my ailments or wait till something was really bad. (I’ve got a weird lump, can I also have a Pap smear and a new prescription for the pill?). The money does matter!

The NHS is one of the greatest things in this country - let’s just find it properly!

No because it literally never works that way. Low income is always defined by benefit entitlement, unless you are saying people are asked to bring in three months worth of payslips for all earners in the family?

There already are private GP services. Off you go and pay for them if you want them.

Because what you are proposing now means you still get access GPS on what is ‘on the cheap’ for you, but is made prohibitively expensive for others.

If you're not even registered how do you know how long it takes to get an appt?

Mine always gives same day for something urgent or for my kids, within 10 days for non urgent.

If you're not registered, do you already go private?

How does having exemptions for the low paid, elderly, disabled etc (which would be essential), help avoid the no shows etc?

I'd want to see statistics showing exactly what groups of people are those who are more likely to miss/waste appointments. I suspect it will generally be the same people who'd be exempt under the charging proposals. So, it'd end up yet another tax on the "squeezed middle" and workers who probably aren't the ones using GP services that much anyway!

I think this would work if it was the cost of a prescription- if you don’t pay for prescriptions you don’t pay for the dr.
so essentially you’d prepay for your prescription and see the dr to get it. Would wittle out the no shows

I think it's a good idea for one offs like a chest infection, earache etc - would discourage a lot of time wasters and unnecessary appointments.
For longer term illnesses and conditions, pregnancy etc then it should be free after initial consultation.

I would because i can afford it, but what about the people who can't?

My grandparents worked their lives on low pay, in an era when they hadnt had access to the education to do better. They retired with savings and were terrific budgeters but lived extremely carefully on a very low income. If they had had to pay a charge for GP visits it would have left them without enough money for food or heating. They would have simply not gone, and my grandmother would have lived in horrendous pain from her rheumatoid arthritis.

I can get seen on the day by my GP. If charging came in I would just go to A and E. I do not go to the GP for minor things though.

My partner is registered there. I would go private if I had to.

I don't know where I stand on the idea, hate to think of the NHS being privatised but can also see peoples frustrations with current services.

I tried to yesterday. Our 3 year old son has an infected finger which had become urgent. Despite us actually being in the GP surgery for a vaccination on Tuesday and the nurse asking reception to arrange an antibiotic, they refused. And then went MIA for all appts.

I tried for hours to find a private GP service yesterday at up to £60. None would see a child and we had to go to minor injuries.

They were great in end but with GP surgeries apparently no longer willing to make exceptions for tiny children, we basically feel we now have no choice but to sign up for private healthcare at work at an annual cost of £1500.

So well done Rishi Sunak, I guess. You got what you wanted.