[Misc] Would you pay for a doctors appointment?

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Yes I would. We have moved overseas now and to see our GP it is $130, just about £75gbp. But we don't pay any tax/NI towards health care.

Good to see you back on here - nice easy win for the Packers recently

 

[Is it PotG?]

Yep, might deter some of the 'I have a cold and fancy a chat' merchants.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Yes but many couldn’t afford to so eees complicated

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Reckon there's some mileage to be had in that 50p NHS appointment no-show charge. And if you can't afford the 50p then you can't afford the fags or the big telly with the Sky subscription. And if you GENUINELY can't afford the 50p then just tick from the half dozen or more exemptions listed on the back of the current repeat prescription paper form.

Just like the hilariously HUMUNGOUS drop in usage of supermarket carrier bags when a 5p - A. FIVE. PATHETIC. PENCE. - charge was introduced for bags.

Any nominal charge for missed NHS appointments IMHO would be mainly symbolic. Tho if you add up 17 million of the f*ckers it comes to a very useful tidy sum

 

[drew]

Free at the point of delivery.

There are 300 million GP appointments per year so this is just over 5% missed.

Before slagging everyone off then you need to breakdown the reasons and just randomly suggesting 2 million is acceptable isn't really scientific!!


As for a 50p fine, how much do you think it will cost in admin to collect that? Ludicrous.


You only need to read the thread to see the political bias. Those on the right happy to charge and if a few sick poor people fall through the net hey, it will reduce the benefit bill and, ergo, tax bills!!

 

[drew]

Errrr ….. no. The whole point of the NHS is "free at the point of delivery". The problem is that doctors surgeries are actually private businesses and so if they can't make a profit they close. I'd be happy for missed appointments to have a charge on the following conditions :

1. GPs become a part of the NHS ( not private contractors )
2. They actually run on time ( so as someone else has suggested, I get cash back if my appointment is delayed )
3. They dump this ridiculous "You have to phone at 8.30 in the morning to get an appointment for that day. No pre-arranged appointments" crap. If I want to book an appointment for 5 days time I bloody well should be able to.

EDIT - and if they charged A&E would become even more of a nightmare !!!!!

Have you considered changing to another practice? My surgery allows you to book up appointments in advance, not just on the day. They do run an emergency clinic for a couple of hours everyday and you have to ring up at 8:30 for that. Also, I can book appointments online.

 

[Bakero]

In Spain there is the opposite problem- being forced to go to the doctor when you really don't need to. Any day off sick from work requires a doctor's note then you often need another appointment to get a 'ready to return' note. Waste of time for everybody and must cost the health service a fortune.

 

[drew]

GP system is not fit for purpose, i dont know if charging will help but something needs to change. for me the obvious improvements would be to end the automatic one to one relationship between person and GP surgery, and end having wall to wall appointments. a person should be able to drop in any GP to be seen or book somewhere else if their normal one is busy. and why not book in appointments in advance, i can book in my car for a service but not myself?

i was turned away from a GP surgery being very ill, and another illness was unable to book appointment. both times i used a drop in centre instead and seen with an hour, away with prescription back to bed. i should probably go to doctor for minor thing but dont bother as i not want to battle the system.

Sounds a good idea but if Drs are going to prescribe something then I think they will need access to your medical notes rather than just accept the patients word for things. I think there was a plan to digitalize records but that was abandoned in 2013.

I would have no problem going to any surgery in my town but I don't think you can just have a system where you 'drop in'. Central booking system and you get given a choice, eg, you can have a 10am appointment at the surgery on the other side of town or the one nearest you will be 4pm.

 

[drew]

As with anything free, some people take the piss. The Freakonomics guys met with David Cameron before he became prime minister and told him that to stop people taking the piss, you had to charge. His response was that this would be political suicide.

They have subsequently come up with a model which may have some merit if it were tweaked for the elderly and those with chronic health issues. Basically, every year the government gives everyone in the country £1000, but then charge for health care 100% up to £2000, 50% up to £8000, free over £8000 (this is the bit that needs tweaking). If you don't need to go to the doctor, you are £1000 better off. Their estimate is that health care spending would reduce by 15% (£20bn) per annum as consumers would be more price sensitive and they would no longer use the health care services they currently use only because they are free (eg free paracetamol on prescription, unnecessary doctors appointments etc).

Welcome to the US!! So if you have surgery, you are almost certainly faced with a bill of £4000. How are you going to afford that if you're on minimum wage as you wouldn't even be able to afford health insurance!!!

Jog on.

 

[portlock seagull]

So ill they can't ring up to explain they'll miss an appointment? A small % of which, yes. Systems can be put in place for that small % of people.


Failing to see your point here. That could be considered a reason FOR a move towards a depository service..

There's 111. NHS is almost entirely 24/7.



1) This isn't a fine, it's a deposit to access a service and ensure appropriate usage. The NHS irrespective of its level of funding has to be rationed because of budgets. You could have n budget, but if people abuse the system, there's a wastage in the budget. Unfortunately, morality cannot play a role in argument because ultimately, wastage leads to a lose of life. There's nothing simplistic about it.
2) Your entire argument is around an incredibly simple point of "it's simple thinking of the problem"; but you serve no suggestion as to why it's actually "simple thinking".

I’m no expert and nor are you. I’m not looking to provide all the answers as you appear to want. But I do appear to have thought it through more and have certainly demonstrated from personal experience of dealing with elderly patients why a good number of appointments aren’t kept. If it was simple, they’d have implemented the solution a long time ago don’t you think?

 

[dazzer6666]

Have you considered changing to another practice? My surgery allows you to book up appointments in advance, not just on the day. They do run an emergency clinic for a couple of hours everyday and you have to ring up at 8:30 for that. Also, I can book appointments online.

At my surgery you’re lucky to to get an appointment within the next week anyway, other than the daily ‘drop in’ which usually means waiting 60-90 minutes in a room full of sick people.

 

[beorhthelm]

Sounds a good idea but if Drs are going to prescribe something then I think they will need access to your medical notes rather than just accept the patients word for things. I think there was a plan to digitalize records but that was abandoned in 2013.

I would have no problem going to any surgery in my town but I don't think you can just have a system where you 'drop in'. Central booking system and you get given a choice, eg, you can have a 10am appointment at the surgery on the other side of town or the one nearest you will be 4pm.

the drop in systems already exist in parallel, drop in clinics and A&E (hence why they are ovestretched). booking controled across a CCG would be a start though might have arbitary boundry issues. and what if its simply more convenient to go to GP near work? the NHS centralised database is not the solution but there are already integrated systems. theres no good technical reasons not to share data, only political reasons and control, driven by GP seeking to keep their place in the system imo.

 

[amexer]

First of all myself,children and parents have all used NHS hospital and it has always been excellent. As it is such a political ball game no party dare come up with anything apart from pump money in. Even Farage who if you like him or not says what he thinks retracted within 24hrs his suggestion of compusory insurance because he realised vote loser.. Needs a government with a good majority to be brave and make decisions. People are living longer and financially cant go on like this. . Nobody moans about contributing towards dental cost. I think this is means tested in that OAPs and those on benefit still free.

 

[Bodian]

Would you tip a doctor?

 

[Bakero]

Would you tip a doctor?

Can he play left back?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Nobody moans about contributing towards dental cost. I think this is means tested in that OAPs and those on benefit still free.

You are wrong on both counts. I know plenty of people that don't go to the dentist because of the cost of even a check up. I'll relate a couple of stories which might change your mind.

About three years ago Mrs W was made redundant and was on contribution based JSA. Our household income had halved and we were really stretched - to the point we couldn't pay the mortgage. Mrs W got a tooth infection during this time and needed to see a dentist. Two catches though - we couldn't afford the treatment ( £250 ) and she couldn't get it for free as she was on contribution based JSA. I persuaded her to tick the box on the form that said she was entitled to free treatment - for the sake of her health if nothing else. She of course got a fine ….. which we have both ignored and they have gone away after some nasty letters. And just to note, for those righteous pious people about to post negative stuff about doing this - I really couldn't give a fig - we've both paid into the system for many years, dentistry is part of your health and so should be fully covered by the NHS and your health shouldn't be dictated by your wealth.

Now for the second story. I hate dentists, I have a phobia about them. To the point that until last year I hadn't been to a dentist for over 15 years. Now for the sake of this discussion replace my phobia with 'I can't afford to go to the dentist'. One weekend last year I started to feel really ill and gradually my face blew up like a football. I went to the doctors on the Monday. My doctor told me to go straight to the RSCH and she phoned ahead to ensure I was seen straight away. I had a tooth abscess that had burst and had then infected the rest of my face. So off to A&E - I was collected by a nurse within minutes. Then 10 hours at the RSCH seeing probably around 5 doctors / surgeons and having a nurse sit with me all the time because they were worried my airway was going to become blocked. I needed surgery but there were heated discussions between RSCH and the specialist hospital in East Grinstead as to whether is I was fit enough to travel or if the surgeons in East Grinstead would have to come to Brighton. In the end I was blue lighted to East Grinstead with two paramedics and two doctors. I was then taken to ICU and had four doctors and three nurses looking after me. At midnight I was operated on by two surgeons and then spent a further 36 hours in ICU. I was then transferred to a ward for two days and monitored every other hour.

Why the story ? Well, as I pointed out, what if people can't afford to go to the dentist ? This could be them. How much money has my (excellent) treatment cost for the sake of allowing free dentistry under the NHS ? And yet you've suggested rolling out something similar to the GP system ? No, no and no.