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

Link?

A high percentage of the spanish population pay private health insurance.

Whereas it is free at the point of entry, you will often part pay for prescriptions and things like crutches etc .

Spain has quite a ‘well’ population. Disability levels are relatively low. In Spain and Ireland somewhere around 6-7% of the population are classified as disabled. In the UK, it’s 25%. There is no demographic reason as to why it should be this high and this means that the NHS is completely slammed.

Maybe a band system like the dentist would work. You pay once for a condition and any treatment relating to that condition. I know it means big illnesses would still be taking in a lot less than they cost but for minor things it would reclaim a lot of money for the NHS

If they were refused treatment, time and time again, they would eventually get the message and stop going.

NO....I can't afford life as it is....having a illness that will never get better 😪 the last thing I need is not able to get help due to cost....I can't see a dentist due to cost either....its a stupid idea🤬

One problem with this is that many appointments are only necessary due to administrative or clinical incompetence, who will want to pay for them? Or for appointments that end up so delayed the patient cannot wait for them, or in some other way fail to meet their basic purpose? For example my FIL recently attended to get some blood test results only to be told once the dr viewed the results that due to staff error the (important) relevant test had not even been done.

I can completely see your point OP but it’s so hard to get the right solution.

As another example of management error, I was advised over the phone that I needed to attend for a face to face assessment at the weekend, where a GP from another practice (but from the same trust) was taking their regular turn to cover the weekend appointment. They said I needed to be referred for a test the next week but that due to what they said was a ridiculous admin glitch, I would have to have another appointment the next week with a GP from the practice as only they could refer on the right system or something. Complete waste of their time for reasons of pure IT/admin inadequacy, when I had already been seen by a GP. Now, I wouldn’t mind paying another nominal fee but many would.

@ThunderyDays https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6532806/

more links in the references section

It’s not free, it’s free at the point of care which is very different! And I suggest you see who gets what for free, for example migrants coming here to work have to pay have to pay an immigration health surcharge of £1000 for every year of their working visa, on top of the fact they are paying tax and national insurance! Clearly you follow the nasty party who don’t tell you all this!

That's assuming drunks and drug addicts think rationally

I think the NHS should be paying me for eating healthily and staying fit.
I should also be receiving some sort of payment for my very low carbon footprint, where the bloody hell is my money 🤷🏻‍♀️

The thing is that piffling amounts like £5 would cost more to administer than they gained. Equally it would be cheaper to make all prescriptions free than mess about with a system whereby only 11% of the are paid for. Adding in new levels of bureaucracy just costs more money.

All the countries so often quoted as having better healthcare than the UK also spend more per capita.

I'm happy to pay as long as I pay less tax. I think for lower income maybe they can pay lower fee like £5 or less. It's like the plastic bag situation, when people really need it they will pay. But when they are not serious and are time wasting they won't. Also, if they miss appointments they should be fined. At my GP there are so many missed appointments it's difficult to get one as it is.

Policy can’t be made to suit one person though.

If you are under the threshold then you would get the treatment you need. Lots of countries have this and no one dies as they can’t access healthcare.

Of course it should, but I' not holding my breath......

Nope.

As an AHP who works in Northern Ireland and often sees patients from the south, the Irish healthcare system is absolutely not something to aspire to. Waiting times are as equally shocking as ours and people do in fact neglect their health as they cannot afford to go to the GP or pay for their medications etc. Outcomes are not better.

im on the fence regarding GP too. But, I would feel for anyone like myself whom it took many many GP appointments to get to a diagnosis of a chronic condition. I would not of been able to afford those many visits until I was able to be heard.

Most of us too…..
finding a dentist that still does NHS is like rocking horse sh1t

Except approximately ⅓ of the population of Ireland have a full medical card and over 1/10 of the population have a GP visit card which also covers the A&E charge.

I don't know if those figures for the GP visit card include children under 8, all of who don't pay for GP.

This is why Scotland doesn't have prescription charges. The list of exempt conditions hadn't been updated for decades and when it was, it was discovered that for the remainder, it would cost more to administer than to just provide the medications.

I've got absolutely no doubt the system could be more efficient and gentle discouragement of prescribing readily available OTC medications. The whole NHS could be more efficient. The private medical sector could be more efficient.

We need to start introducing a European style health service, where we all have health insurance, but where those on a low income or with chronic long term conditions get cover at reduced cost. Most Western European countries like France, Germany and have much better health care and health outcomes than the U.K. I know France has a safety net for people who cannot afford full insurance premiums so that nobody is denied health care.

The health service was a fantastic concept when it was introduced in 1948, but the population has increased, the needs, demands and expectations far exceed what the NHS are capable of providing. By stubbornly hanging onto the NHS instead of grasping the nettle and moving over to a European style health system we are condemning ourselves to a sub par health system, where people cannot get doctors appointments, the desperate and dying are left for hours/days in corridors in A&E and access to preventative care is severely limited.

I would love to move over to a French/German/Swedish/Dutch style health insurance system and know that when I need to see a GP or need an ambulance/emergency care that it will be available to me. I would gladly pay a bit more for decent and reliable healthcare.

The prescription idea is interesting. I could easily afford the 2 prescriptions I get each year for contraception. So could many others. But then I imagine it would be tricky to means test it.

Guidelines would need to be put in place for charging GPs and A&E appointments where people go back because they have been misdiagnosed previously or not given the right treatment.

Money (from god knows where) needs investing even just so GPs can get up to date training. I’ve some awful service from my GP surgery lately. 1 who brushed off an issue that my DC actually needed surgery for. And another where a GP tried to prescribe my DC a medicine even I knew has been banned in the UK. Not paying for that shit.

I would agree in principle but in reality it can be impossible to get through to the right number to cancel. And also appointments are dished out without pre-arrangement - I had one last week I couldn’t attend but I was only notified a day ahead (I managed to cancel). Last summer I turned up for a scan at 1pm (with my letter) but it was apparently 11am - should I be penalised for that?

Lucky you. I have prescriptions every month and it mounts up.

Not that hard. Do it by national insurance number. Easy.

Sliding scale - £1 to £5. Those who pay full price now, feel like they’re getting a good deal. Those who pay nothing are introduced gently.