We need to start charging for NHS services

[Fragmentedbrain]

£15 for the GP
£20 for A&E
NHS routes to paid-for fast track treatment
Options to pay for nicer rooms

We need to stop putting working people on disability benefits for want of a functioning health service it's barbaric

The trouble is that there are too many people not paying taxes. Over half of the people in the UK are now net-recipients; either paying no income related taxes or paying less than they take out in services and benefits.

Well, either way it must add to the pressure for NHS.

Nope...I'm 60 year old widow...still working full time...over 4 days...so I can helpy elderly parent...plus helping with childcare...my daughter is a working single parent....please note I get NO....benefits...as I'm on minimum government wage.☹️ is so bad....I'm using food bank now.....I'm struggling with health issues now...don't think I can retire....my boss employs people past retirement age....praying I get there

Restaurants seem to manage deposits without issue or fanfare. When you book an appointment you enter payment details and a charge of £0 is applied against the card. If you are a no show with no explanation, a charge is levied; if you arrive for your booking, no charge is taken. Seems fairly simple.

That's certainly what they should be doing. Are they? The Sandie Peggie tribunal in Fife is not showing up the highly paid equalities officer from that Trust in a very good light at all. She didn't even manage to have a policy on changing room use that derived from the law as opposed to what Stonewall and similar bodies had been telling organisations the law should be.

And how much did that cost to the taxpayer?

No one has taken it upon themselves to consider how, if the NHS charges but services are still unavailable whether since we would be as much customers as patients, anyone would get refunds.
They did that here in Hong Kong at at least once hospital for unseen casualty patients.

Presumably we can claim a refund if we're not seen on time. DH is waiting for a telephone appointment with his GP. The appointment time was 2.30 and he's still waiting. I certainly wouldn't be happy paying for that.

Various broadsheets have looked into this and think the salary would be somewhere between £50 and £59k. Ms Bumba is 29 years old. That is probably more than many HCPs are earning in Fife.

Just wondering who will be collecting the money for missed appointments etc. That sounds potentially like a lot of admin. I can just envisage the arguments now and it’ll be the least paid who’ll take the brunt of patients ire as usual

People already can't afford to go to the dentist!

How on earth will they afford the doctor's as well?

I live pay cheque to pay cheque, frequently without cash at the end of the month. I'd have either died of sepsis last year or needed far more treatment than i got as I'd have left it so late due to cost. I can't budget for savings, I simply don't have enough money.
It is not a system I want at all.
It would also cost more, the nhs has a low spend per head compared to other countries.

The people selling you this are the people who sold you Brexit and utility privatisation. The people who will make money from you.

Even though this is a typed forum, you're. not. listening.
Does the 15 annual or biannual fee include medication? Parking? Tests? Inpatients admissions and stay? Surgeries? Maternity? Tests? Or will people have to pay fee on top of fee? Other services? How about X - Rays? Casts for broken limbs? Wheelchairs? Pre - surgery checks?

How much is it all going to cost?

What about triage? Ambulance transport? Non - ambulance transfers? Parking at hospitals?

OP, if assisted dying goes through this is likely to propel a lot of people towards it. How would you feel about that?

@CraftyNavySeal

most people already do via the taxes that they pay.

No. This would mean that those who couldn’t afford this, couldn’t access health care.

Plus it’s an open door to ever higher charges in future, leading to a system like the American system where health insurance is essential to have any hope of being treated.

Look at what happened to student tuition fees for University. It started as a modest £1000 Pa just to ensure that people were serious about the courses they were taking. Seems fairly reasonable. But soon after we end it at £9000 Pa and young people stuck with huge debt.

I presume under this type of system there'd be so many exemptions that the only people who'd end up paying are the ones who've paid for it via their taxes in the first place.

There is a bit of a difference in scale between a restaurant collecting a deposit and a deposit being collected for every NHS appointment.

And what will happen when there is no money in the account? No money no appointment?

I think youre wrong.

Working on low wage...Not entitled to benefits 😡

A restaurant is on a completely different scale to the biggest employer in Europe that sees 1 million patients every 24 hours. It’s sheer idiocy to compare the two.

A typed form? Eh? What you talking about?!

If you’re going to reply to a particular poster with attitude, at least read their posts before jumping in with your ‘bold points’

I never mentioned anything about other payments. £15 for a GP visit. End of. Keep it the way it is then, but then no one gets to see a GP when they need one….. Brilliant!

People can afford uber eats or deliveroo every other day, not to mention their cigarettes, booze and drugs, yet they can't afford a small charge to see a doctor?

Can they? Do most people live on takeaways? Smoke? Drink? Do drugs? Don’t think so.