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

Are you actually not capable of comprehending that many people on benefits physically do not have enough money to do this? As in, the money is literally not there? What exactly do you suggest they do in that scenario?

And non-attendance is a completely separate issue, and something plenty of working people (of which I am one, btw, so you can knock it off with the faux outrage and the 'entitled') are guilty of, as well as those who are not in work.

@taxguru It was not NI payments that stopped the self employed getting furlough money - it was that some of them had not paid income tax! They paid tax on company profits which is lower. I had sympathy with the government’s position. No income tax, no benefits. People who could work but retire and decide not to could pay NI. That might make our productivity higher!

There were many reasons. Lots of s/e paid income tax/nic and were still excluded. I presume you refer to limited companies - perfectly legal, and there isn't that much difference in total taxes paid between a limited company and sole trader anymore, not to mention there being lots of valid reasons for some people trading as a limited company, such as regulatory requirements (some professions not allowed to be sole traders), and some customers require their freelancers to be limited companies rather than sole traders. From memory, I think there were 7 distinct and separate reasons why various groups of self employed were excluded, them being a limited company was only 1 of the 7! Limited company owners still pay income tax on the dividends they draw so it's not true to say they didn't pay income tax.

health insurers do not cover mental health or menopause related symptoms.
just saying.

Again, depends on the country. The US isn't the only alternative healthcare system and the UK's private healthcare/insurance looks nothing like the insurance schemes in most other European countries.

I certainly don’t look down on carers. You’re doing one of the most important jobs anyone could do. Thank you!

The people that are on this thread saying “oh what happens if you have to pay to go to the GP? Am I just going to be left to die” are missing the key issue that you can’t currently get a GP appointment and when you do it’s 10 minutes long and you can only cover one thing and then the bare minimum is done and things aren’t dealt with because all the wait times are so long and you can’t get anything done in a timely fashion. You’d have to offset all of the additional morbidity and mortality from the current system being unworkable before you could make any kind of decent argument about which is worse.

My last GP appointment was the same day. 🤷‍♀️

Same.

I rang with a concern about my son first thing in the morning and he had an appointment straight after school on the same day.

That’s not an argument for charging to see a GP. People delaying treatment will end up costing the NHS more, not less. If the aim is genuinely to reduce pressure, then anyone who is willing to pay should go private instead. That would take real strain off the system immediately without penalising everyone else.

People on benefits won't have to pay, only working people, so you might as well just crank up their taxes a bit more.

The government never negotiates contracts properly so the excesses required will usher in a 2 tier system. Before long we will end with a dogs dinner of health insurance. Look at how student loans have worked out... The utility companies...

I agree, the incompetence of governments/civil service/public sector is astounding, time after time. It's mostly why things are so bad these days with public services. It all needs root and branch reform. But all we ever get is incompetent MPs, civil servants and public sector managers re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic and hoping they get to retire on gold plated pensions before the shit hits the fan.

This idea is worth consideration. There are a LOT of time wasters.

Not likely to happen because the NHS is virtually a religion - any suggestion that a bit of private involvement and some charges here and there might improve things is tantamount to blasphemy.

There is lots of private involvement in the NHS and many contracts with private companies.

I work for the NHS and i agree sadly, because it’s free no one values it.

That's the problem with paying those people well even if they do a bad job. There is no accountability so there is no incentive to put the deckchairs down and actually fix the hole in the boat!

Have you seen the government's track record with private/ public initiatives? It absolutely should not be private.

There is also the small matter that we pay for in through our taxes.

What are you basing your statement about time wasters on?

I can hear whirring. I think it's Nye Bevan spinning in his grave

Isn't it depressing. 😔

...and I worry about how many people reading this are thinking whose Nye Bevan?

I think he's just as likely to be spinning when he sees how little the current NHS matches his vision when he set it up! It's scope has massively morphed away from what it was originally intended to be, hence why so many expect it to cure/treat/solve all their problems. That was never the original intention.

In what way has it deviated from its founding principles? It was intended to be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery. It does exactly what it says on the tin.

Op I think.its a great idea however as we all know it's management thats shit ,sloppy we need a German system etc so I'm reluctant to throw more money at it as is.

But my bjggest issue is that once these barriers are broken eg uni fees capped by Blair at 1 grand we see costs spiral now uni fees are 9500 and will keep on increasing and that will happen to charging in the NHS.