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

I think certain things should be charged for eg podiatry/weight loss jabs/dentistry. However, I think it should be means tested. Maybe a flat rate of £5 for everyone and then above that it’s means tested based on income.

There should also be financial penalties for missed appointments (unless there’s proof why you weren’t there eg emergency trip to hospital) Our GP surgery puts a list of the number of missed appointments up on the wall every month. Last time I was there, they had something like 85 missed appointments in the previous month 😢 Given that all the on the day appointments are gone by about 8.50am that makes me feel very resentful.

I agree with this,

I said to my husband yesterday, I wouldn't mind paying for a GP appointment if it meant I got better service.

I believe it would stop a lot of time wasters however, I feel even non-working people should pay (even if its only £10) as otherwise, you still have the same problems.

I think we also need to have an honest conversation about elderly people and qualtity of life vs, keeping someone body alive come what may.

I'd be happy to pay more tax to support the NHS. I don't support removing the principle of health care being free at the point of delivery.

I've lived in countries with very good health care and comprehensive insurance schemes etc. I thought they worked really well, until my friend's mum got cancer and the costs were astronomical

I don't really see why we would want to impose a tax on the sick. I would prefer to pay through general taxation and retain free health care for everyone.

Our ambulance service (I work for it) is completely totally bogged down with the worried well wanting a check up, regulars, elderly fallers in care home - Doris slipped out her chair, she has no injuries seems fine just asking to be helped up but policy says we can't use the lifting equipment until she's been assessed" I told 999bshe was confused because she's got dementia and I don't want her waiting hours now so made her a priority (to which we just say Dorris do you have any pain, can you wiggle your arms and legs - checkup done but now it's an hour to document the lot in the epr), mental health (for which all we have is about 2 days training and not joined up with any mental health services - so we make you tell us your entire history/re traumatise you - then do absolutely zero beyond a chat for you because we are not joined up and not trained. An untrained person isn't going to fix anything in a single session.

It means when you call up with a fall broken hip this codes lowly compared with all the "I've got my anxiety chest pains again" "I've drunk 10 pints and now I feel dizzy and vomiting" - who are constantly prioritised. Don't mind seeing that stuff but what frustrates me is that we routinely take 1-2hours now for stroke and heart attack, 10-15 minutes for a cardiac arrest, 4-8 hours for a fall can't get up/broken limb.

Need to rethink what we actually want the emergency service to cover.

You’d just have people who are not on benefits but struggling not getting potentially concerning symptoms checked surely. Eg I wouldn’t bother getting a bit of a dodgy mole checked unless it got quite bad.

Agree with this. A good carer is worth their weight in gold.

This. The tax burden is less in some other countries.
If those on benefits are exempt then what about those on low wages whose take home pay is the same or lower than those on benefits. Plus they are often paying bus fare so are actually worse off. Maybe they would be better off not working to get free gp care.

Bore off.

If you want an even more inequality riddled system then move to America or similar.

It’s not just the time wasters who will think twice about turning up at the GP surgery for £25 quid, it will also be the people with early stage cancer who will be put off going until they have no choice and by then their condition is much less treatable and more costly to treat.

Look at how many people go through life with terrible teeth and lots of extractions because even the NHS price of £25 ish a check up is not doable for them.

Do you really believe that if you chose not to work tomorrow, you would get a motability car?

How about a deposit that’s refunded if you turn up? Discourages time wasters and people who cancel without telling them

Define time wasters? Some of us went to the GP for months or years and were told there's nothing wrong. Eventually it was found there was something.

I, and I'm sure I'm not alone have talked to my GP because I had a strange symptom. I was told it was nothing. If I'd left it I would have just been constantly worried that it was something serious.

i have been too. I’m talking about people like my dad, who phone the GP multiple times a week because of his health anxiety.

Because the cost of the administration and accountancy would far outweigh the money received.

When a nursery started fining parents for being late collecting after 6pm, it got worse, because it became the price to pay for being late.

The NHS is in crisis and something has to change. A charge at the point of access makes sense (with exceptions made for the very old/ very young and those not reaching a pay threshold)

The other thing that needs to be addressed but is a massive political hot potato, is the huge increase in people being classified as disabled in the UK.

Compared to its nearest neighbours (ireland and france) the UK has an unusually higher percentage of the population classified as disabled. There is something not quite right around that.

I think it should be £5 for a GP visit over 18 and no exemptions. If you don't show up then it's increased to £10. It stops people time wasting but is still affordable. You don't pay for subsequent visits if the doctor says you need to return.

I also think everyone needs to pay for prescriptions, then people aren't going to the GP just so they can get free paracetamol. I agree the idea with that everyone pays £3.50 for a prescription.

I think A and E should also be £5 and everyone pays. If A and E is free and you pay for GP then people will go to A and E instead. If A and E is more expensive people may not go when they need to.

There would be times I'd have to accept I could not afford healthcare.

As someone who works for the NHS, it does annoy me when people just don't bother turning up as appointments are very precious. But I would never want to see a health care that would force people not to attend appointments because they couldn't afford it. I also think it would be more harmful on the long term as people would be accessing it when they were really unwell and needing a lot of intensive treatment rather than attending earlier and being able to fix it easier and more cheaply.

My relative does this too. The gp sees them and takes them seriously because they are elderly and normally prescribes them something or orders a blood test. Relative cashes prescriptions but then reads list of side effects and doesn’t take them because health anxiety.

youd never be able to pick them up as a time waster on anyone’s list. The gp hands out painkillers to them like bloody smarties.

I think there are very few people who couldn’t, genuinely, afford £5.

Why does everyone in Wales get free prescriptions? (Genuine question)

@Northernlights19 Surely nobody looks down on carers? You do an amazing job.

I agree in principle, but a lot of the time those who are except and the ones who play the system the most. So you'd have to have no exception and everyone would have to pay. This could then stop sone people accessing the care they need.

It would need to be a minimum amount with fines for those who missed appointments.

IT would stop all the drunks and druggies constantly turning up in A&E and causing havoc.

Because the Welsh government funds it. Same in Scotland. There was a time during which they were free in all UK.

No it wouldn't. They would just refuse to pay. They'd still go there.

there is tonnes of research done that suggests that a small payment to see the GP would actually cost more to administer than it will generate.

what we need to do is to provide tax relief for private health insurance to encourage more to use the private system. This would free up resource in the public sector. The government do not understand economics. The same way that if tax relief was provided for private school fees, state schools would massively benefit due to lower numbers. But nobody wants to have a serious adult conversation using proper economics.