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!

From the beginning the NHS was abused. As soon as it was introduced people starting taking, wanting prescriptions for cotton wool and aspirin for example. That's why they had to introduce prescription charges. People don't respect free stuff and take advantage. So many no shows because it doesn't cost them anything. Getting so drunk you get into bother and then just take up the time of A and E and possibly the time of a police officer as well.

@yogatoga sorry you may have already answered this! But what service is it you use? My DH has cousins / uncles who are surgeons and doctors but doesn't ever want to bother them by asking health questions for the children, and getting a GP appointment is like hens teeth where I live!

You are 100% wrong. People did not abuse it. GPs at the beginning used to ask if you would like cotton wool added to your free prescription. Many people were poor in a way that benefits now do not allow. So GPs wanted to help those who were incredibly poor.
Charges were introduced as a political policy to introduce the concept of charging again.

It sounds expensive and makes me appreciate NHS more.

Does that include preventative appointments eg smears or general check ups? Wonder if it drives numbers down

It's from pnsc so 2015, but won't have changed much, if anything it will have increased slightly.

@Rowthe @Jaybird43

www.conciergemedical.co.uk

I highly recommend. As an NHS supporter I'm very sorry it's come to paying.

'Many people were poor in a way that benefits now do not allow. So GPs wanted to help those who were incredibly poor.'

Is this why today ot only people on benefits but some employed are queuing at food banks?

not *

And this is why many on low incomes don’t visit the dentist or opticians, because they can’t afford the costs.

It includes those using pre payment certificates though, which will change the data significantly. Pre payment doesn't equal free prescriptions, and certainly wouldn't cover free doctors appointments.

I don't qualify for free prescriptions, but have, normally, two GP appointments a month due to a long term issue or two (one in person, one telephone as a rule). 6 months ago I had some strange symptoms that I truly wasn't sure if they needed me to see a GP. It ws the end of the month, and I honestly think I wouldn't have bothered if it had cost me. Luckily it didn't as it turned out to be very serious and resulted in a week in hospital. If I'd put it off to pay day, there is a very good chance I would have either died or ended up very seriously disabled.

To those saying NHS is underfunded. You are wrong. It is funded to a good level but it is grossly mismanaged. Some GP's prescribe medication that can be bought over the counter very cheaply. Ibuprofen cost 34p on Aldi yet a prescription for it costs £8 to NHS. Some people who can't tolerate wheat get bread and even cakes on prescription. They can buy food without wheat at supermarket. Gay men who have a lot of casual sex with people they don't know can be prescribed PREP just in case a person they have sex with is HIV positive. They could be using a condom. PREP is very expensive. Hospitals as pend rediculous amounts on things like having a new light bulb which is done by contractor who charges 20/10 times more than having their own electrician/maintenance person would cost. They have over 450 health bosses on over £100k pa and dozens earning over £160k pa. Yet trusts are not meeting their performance targets, waiting list grow and Junior Doctors and Nurses are underpaid and have to work rediculous long shifts of 12 hours when likely to be tired and that is often when mistakes are made. The NHS needs a complete overhaul. People in hospital don't have to pay for their food. No reason why a person in hospital can't pay for their food. They would be paying for it if not in hospital. Too much money is spent on the pointless gender surgeries then four or five years down the line many of them want reversing. Other operations which are a choice rather than as medical requirement like circumcisions should be charged for and all UK citizens should have a national ID card. No card no healthcare unless paying up front. It is a NHS not an International HS. Rant over.

No I think it should remain free at point of delivery for all and instead be better funded through progressive taxation, and yes that means I would pay more tax myself. I'd also halt and reverse privatisation of the NHS.

Whilst I certainly agree with some points (e.g. expensive contractors!) I think a lot of your examples of what we shouldn't fund lack long-term planning. The NHS practices evidence-based medicine and I trust that when it chooses to fund something, that is because overall the benefits outweigh the costs. Funding PrEP is, I presume, cheaper than managing HIV, much in the same way that contraception and condoms are a lot cheaper than a whole new human. Eating gluten-free food is very important to reduce the risks of complications in coeliac disease; it would be more expensive to have to manage and treat the problems caused by the gluten-sensitive not adhering to a gluten-free diet (as an aside, have you seen the price of gluten-free food in the supermarket?) Nutritious food for all patients is an absolute no-brainer. Good nutrition is so, so important in healing (and mass-produced simple meals are going to be a tiny portion of the price of someone's hospital stay). Insisting on patients providing their own food would severely penalise the sickest, least mobile and poorest patients and end up potentially increasing their stay by some time. Not everyone has family who are able and willing to bring meals to them in hospital three times a day ... And as far as I am aware, the NHS does not provide circumcision unless there is a medical reason, although I am happy to be proven wrong.

Instead of charging to show up, charge those who don't.

It's not so much about the money as the principle. If people bother to cancel their appointments, it would free up a lot of resource.

I'm also in Ireland; we need to pay €60 each time to visit a GP. It's €25 for a repeat prescription over the phone.
Some people have medical insurance as a perk of their jobs, where you can claim back some of the cost.

I really dont understand all th panic over the idea that people qouldnt bother going to the GP and would just get more and more sick. Do we worry about the fact that some people (like me!) have to pay for prescriptions and so maybe they won't bother going to the GP and will just sit and home and get more and more sick. Whats the difference?
Obviously kids, people on UC or pension credit shouldn't be charged and would just have to sign a form or whatever like they do when they collect a prescription. I mean it might not make much money but I can't see it would be a disaster for the population like some posters are saying

I’ve always used private GPs for my children from birth, I’ve never had one say they wouldn’t see children. That’s so unusual, I’m sorry you couldn’t find someone to see him.

My Dad is currently waiting on cancer treatment. He definitely left it too late to go to GP so he's that way inclined anyway, but if he'd had to pay he wouldn't have gone at all. His choice because he could easily afford it, he just wouldn't have. He'd pay prescription charges once a Dr told him he needed to, but he wouldn't have gone for the initial consultation.

I think there will be lots of people like that. Probably also some who currently go too frequently and might thing twice mind.

I would gladly pay as long as I was treated with respect and listened to rather than patronised and fobbed off which can happen with GPs.

I’ve not read the whole thread, so sorry if this has already been asked.

But I thought the problem was too few GPs? So even of people had to pay, where would all the GPs and free appointments magically appear from?

Or are they hoping people wouldn’t bother and would just die quietly in a corner?

I would tentatively support this, as long as there is a proper safety net for the chronically sick, low income and vulnerable; much as you are suggesting OP. The amount of missed appointments whilst others are struggling to see a GP is heartbreaking. Sadly some people don't seem to value things that they don't pay up front for. I know it's not a perfect solution, but it seems to work in a lot of other European countries so I'd be interested to see how it played out here. My reservation is that the system goes the way of NHS dentistry, which uses a similar model but doesn't seem to be working well either; lots of people can't find an NHS dentist, and if they can they're not 'poor enough' to qualify for free or more heavily subsidised treatment.

I think charging would only help if part of a bigger plan to help the NHS, if we relied on this alone I don't think it would fix much sadly, and risks people avoiding seeing their GP because of the cost.

Interesting, thanks. If you have a recommendation for a particular service it would be good to have a fall back.

We tried a couple of apps and the superdrug one. All had a box you had to tick to confirm it wasn't for a child.

Does it mean that the GP would actually take me seriously? I had six appointments for the same symptoms and it took me sobbing in the room for them to take me seriously. I was so badly anemic I had a blood transfusion the same day and and iron infusion.

But it took six appointments over six weeks to get treatment. I'm sure five of those could have been better used by other patients but the GP just kept brushing me off.

No cos GP appointment are always quick and not much use.

Which is why I see private GPs. I’m not well off. But I had years of being fobbed off. Got private healthcare in place, then paid to see a private GP and was referred immediately through insurance to a consultant and something very serious was actually sorted within a matter of weeks.

I’d been begging an nhs GP to see me and then actually listen to me for almost a year.