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’ve never found a NHS dentist!

I pay for a private GP I get through work. I can go on and (usually) have an appointment within the hour. I can upload photos, choose video or audio call, have 20 minutes and can talk about more than one thing (e.g. I am calling about this cough I have, but also as my complaint only took 5 mins and you have asked if there is anything else, I've had this ongoing issue with my ribs etc etc). I then get the prescription instantly through the online portal and can email it to myself, take it straight to the chemist and collect it. So probably about 2 hours from booking my appointment I now have treatment for it.

If the Government want the NHS to charge for GP appointments that's fine, but they need to up their game to meet at least half of the standard of care I have written above. The funds would need to go back in to Surgeries so they could afford more resource to provide that.

I just saw a chap on the news who decided it was vital to be seen straight away...he'd gone through usual route..31 in line at 8am at the docs... was advised GP would call back later on...he was a voice coach without a voice and horrendous GP eventually rang back and advised 1st appointment was 6 weeks time.

He immediately went private which cost him £100. Not everyone can afford to do that.

I think employers (over a certain size) should contribute towards the health of its workers (and I don't mean subsidising private schemes). They are making huge profits out of us all after all. I think I read that in Japan the costs of healthcare are split three ways? The individual pays a third (through taxation/NI type payment?), the government a third and the employer a third? I do think we as a nation need to take more personal responsibility for our health. But I think the poor/vulnerable need a safety net (and not two tier healthcare). I think the worshipping of the NHS is blinding us to potentially better systems that might be out there.

@been and done it. Someone losing their voice is not an urgent medical need though. And will normally get better without treatment in a short space of time.

@MeetandGreet So many businesses are struggling at the moment. Sure some are making vast profits, but others are already struggling to survive with rising costs.

Yes

It's time to bring this in. The NHS is fucked and change is needed.

The average number (mean not median) is around 7, and that includes taking into account those who never come. A decade ago it was around 2. Now do you see why we cannot cope with demand when funding has fallen year on year in real terms?

GP in the family reckons it’s because people can no longer self monitor minor ailments. Instead, they want a doctor to do it for them. This also applies to parents of children with a cold.

I’ve seen my GP four times in the last five years; and three times, it was because another HCP told me I had to.

As soon as this starts, that’s the beginning of the end. Fuck the Tories.

@Dontevenstart
Hopefully it’s the rebirth of decent healthcare. It’s poor at the moment. No party can solve this without radical
ideas. Labour seems to have a few.

I think it will just make people more angry, we will pay and we still won't be able to get any treatment .....will still be at the back of a long queue 🤷
Yes if we have to pay that will put more money into the NHS but that money will just attract a feeding frenzy of middlemen and managers and won't result in any extra doctors and nurses

I haven’t RTWT but I can see loads of working families disadvantaged by this. So many people work, are just over the threshold for benefits but due to high costs of living, childcare and debts have no extra disposable income. I feel sick about the thought of having to decide whether to pay to visit the GP or buy a new pair of shoes for DC - because that’s where this will end up for so many families.

Unless something is in place for this to be part of an employee package I can’t see how this could ever be viable.

Imagine paying £66 for an A&E visit and still having to sit for 12 hours in pain.

I'd pay but the service then has to be spot on.
Dp has been 3 times this week to be eventually told he has gout.
The first dr no gout just buy some co-codamol for the pain.
The second dr you have gout- try Colchicine.
The third dr eventually prescribed steroids-finally gout is clearing.

This is the issue. It doesn't sound like your husband received bad service here to me. I'm assuming that it wasn't a typical presentation of gout to start with, and it was only with more time plus treatment failure with co-codamol that gout became a more likely diagnosis. Colchicine is then an appropriate 1st line treatment, you wouldn't start steroids unless you'd tried Colchicine or another non steroidal first. So in this case you would still have needed to pay for 3 appointments. That's not the nhs, that's just how medicine works.

He's had this problem ongoing for 2 yrs. Naproxen hasn't worked this time which he buys online.
So yes- loss of earnings (£5000) plus a £100 bill. Unlike abroad where you walk into a pharmacy and walk out with what you need. The problem is he doesn't present as an atypical gout sufferer.
Drugs are highly regulated in this country leading to walking wounded. If he'd been given steroids straight away he'd be back at work next week.
He's going to go private next time. Saves time.
I could tell you about misdiagnosed pneumonia which lead to sepsis and then 6 months of recovery. All because it's just a cough. I think he was told to get some fresh air at one point.

Dr's and the NHS need a huge reformation to make them work for the population and for those working in the service.

@PrincessConstance I do not agree with the idea that people could self diagnose and buy potentially very dangerous drugs to treat what they think they have. People are wrong all the time about both diagnosis and treatments.

United States has the highest rate of complications and side effects from over treatment i.e. where people are given drugs and /or other treatments they do not need.

This is the issue, and I agree in part.
Dr's, diagnosis needs to be more accurate not a 2 yr ongoing saga over gout. Our immediate next-door neighbor's husband died of throat cancer 9 months after he was misdiagnosed with indigestion.
A course of prednisone is highly unlikely to make DP's leg fall off.
Dp was also telling me it took 12 months plus to diagnose a hernia. He eventually saw a private specialist who found it and then cured it with an op.

The problem is the health industry is highly regulated and slow. If we have to pay that's fine by me, but the industry needs to overhaul procedures to offer efficient service.

@PrincessConstance
A lot of other countries have pharmacists who can prescribe and supply drugs. Ours cannot. We have clogged up GPS because of this. We need to take issues to pharmacists when they are straightforward. 3 days worth of antibiotics isn’t rocket science for a urinary tract infection for example. We have GPS monitoring all sorts of on-going conditions. Nurses could do this. We don’t work smart and don’t use the resources efficiently.

What service/company is this, if you don't mind sharing? Is it national or a local scheme? TIA

If it is text or call only it is not a good service. It is fine for minor illnesses. Anything more serious you need to see someone. You also need continuity of care.

It's true, too many cooks spoiling the broth.
In my home country we can go to the pharmacy and explain the problem and walk out with a solution. Not in the UK, it's like pulling teeth.
Obviously this isn't suitable for more serious conditions.
In dp case gout, it's taken nearly 2 bloody weeks from the start to receive the right treatment.

I do not want a nurse to monitor my chronic illness. Years ago Consultants at the hospital used to monitor me. Then it went to the GP. A nurse would know even less than my GP.

No, I just don't believe that the service provided would be improved by charging it would just be used for profit of private companies.