[Misc] Would you pay for a doctors appointment?

[Deleted member 2719]

So many of these are elderly people who forget or have appointments made for them but they’re then too scared to attend. Plenty have dementia or early stages of. Not excusing, just saying. It’s not all ‘can’t be arsed’ as many would be led to believe by such headlines. As usual more complex. and a fee would do little if nothing to address that. Be careful with your criticism young uns because you’re going to be the same one day!

Fair point with dementia patients, my parents are both showing signs of dementia, and i think, if they were forgetting these things I would be reminding them, or if it got to the later dementia stages, they would be being cared for.

But I do accept a million or two, that still leads to 15m who perhaps wake up and say feck it.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Same old leftie argument, they were suggesting just 50p.

You're meant to play the ball not the man. Lefty or not what do you make of the argument?

 

[NooBHA]

What I have an issue with are Private Health Care Companies.

Often people who are covered by Private Health Care. The companies won't cover GP Appointments. If they did then it would take at least some of the pressures of the NHS practices.

It won't cure it all but these Health Care Companies are making millions because people covered by a Works Private Health Care Scheme are not using it and instead taking up slots which the less well off could be utilising

 

[yxee]

Same old leftie argument, they were suggesting just 50p.

Preserving the NHS not a "Leftie argument", whatever that is. The amount of money doesn't matter because once established it will inevitably increase. And even 50p is a lot for some who will be put in a position to trade off their finance with their health.

Other good reasons you have ignored.

Charging for GP diverts people to A&E, do you charge there too?

You cannot know whether an appointment was missed by laziness or medical reasons.

Unenforceable without big unintended consequences.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Yes.

Happy to pay a deposit for each appointment with the surgery keeping it if I don’t turn up or if I’m late.

Personally think this might be the way forward.

A deposit scheme, money returned when you turn up.

So it is still 'free' to see a GP

17 million missed appointments is ridiculous.

 

[Seaber]

they were suggesting just 50p.

What a stupid idea. If every appointment was charged at 50p, either a refundable deposit or flat rate, that means every appointment would need to take a payment. Over the phone will keep patients on the phone longer, in person means tills and till training for receptionists, online means an online payment system.

Is that faff worth the £8.5m a year income the 17 million missed appointments would bring in?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I've got an appointment at the Eye hospital on Thursday. I received a text yesterday reminding me, that if I miss my appointment it costs the NHS £160.
I shall be there, all being well as its for my benefit.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Personally think this might be the way forward.

A deposit scheme, money returned when you turn up.

So it is still 'free' to see a GP

17 million missed appointments is ridiculous.

Last year I was out of work. Every penny counted. So why should I pay a doctor say £10 to reserve an appointment which I could use to feed my family ? Yes, I get it back but you could bet your bottom dollar it would be days after the appointment. Stupid idea.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

You're meant to play the ball not the man. Lefty or not what do you make of the argument?

Sometimes taking the man out is a better strategy, can I take ball and the man

I hate the waste of money or time, especially if it affects a business like the NHS who are trying to help people.

Why do people have such an attitude not to give a sh*t?

When Reid comes on and openly admits this to millions and brushes off like that it pisses me off and is really inexcusable.

A small fee is fine with me, I can only remember ever missing one appointment as I was stuck on the m25, but I still rang in and gave them an hour and a half notice, asking to just move it back, as I was trying to help them catch up, as many surgeries run late and they actually said NO, you will have to rebook.
Where was the common sense in that? As it happened I have just recalled that the M25 cleared up, and I made it with a minute to spare!

But the point is a cared to do it, can I really be in the minority in doing this?

I suppose it does really comes down to ethics and principles, so many do not have these nowadays.

This may sound a bit up myself, but they are my core beliefs.

 

[dazzer6666]

I've got an appointment at the Eye hospital on Thursday. I received a text yesterday reminding me, that if I miss my appointment it costs the NHS £160.
I shall be there, all being well as its for my benefit.

Mrs D had an appointment there recently, but cancelled it (by phone and email, to be certain) as she saw a consultant privately. The day after the original appointment we had a call asking if she 'wanted to rearrange the appointment she missed'. This is the second time it's happened. I dread to think how much money the NHS is wasting through pisspoor admin.

As for paying for a docs appointment, I already have. There are plenty of private docs available if you need one - we actually have a surgery at work that offers same-day, self-funded appointments (GPs, dentists and physiotherapists). It's a question of convenience usually.........but it would be wholly wrong IMO to make charging for appointments the norm

 

[goldstone]

Yes absolutely. You could make a payment for an appointment and have it refunded if you show up/

 

[LamieRobertson]

Introduce the three strikes and they are out policy

 

[portlock seagull]

Fair point with dementia patients, my parents are both showing signs of dementia, and i think, if they were forgetting these things I would be reminding them, or if it got to the later dementia stages, they would be being cared for.

But I do accept a million or two, that still leads to 15m who perhaps wake up and say feck it.

It does. Difficulty with dementia and I’ve quite a bit of personal experience here is that elderly are in denial about and worried about having autonomy taken away or facing up to. It’s nigh on impossible getting them to keep appointments and they cannot be forced. That’s the bottom line. So appointments are made and then not kept, repeatedly so. It’s a very very tricky situation and I’ve been there done that with in laws too. As have friends. Every attempt and every way of trying to get them to appointments has been tried but they can be cunning and coupled with patient confidentiality etc it’s a bloody nightmare trying to get help. I cannot express how difficult it’s been in my personal experience. I hope yours has been easier. But I’m by no means alone.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I've got an appointment at the Eye hospital on Thursday. I received a text yesterday reminding me, that if I miss my appointment it costs the NHS £160.
I shall be there, all being well as its for my benefit.

Would be of massive benefit if texting could be rolled out for most aspects of NHS appointments now that just about everyone's got a phone. Maybe even with something along the lines of 'if you are unable to attend your appointment and fail to notify us you will be charged the cost of one standard text message' that phone companies could then pass on to the NHS

 

[beorhthelm]

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.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

I agree Reid has all the symptoms of being sick.

But she was saying and in general its just people forgetting or not bothering to turn up.



Same old leftie argument, they were suggesting just 50p.




Come on Stat, since when have you been on the project fear campaign, it ain't going to happen.

Same old leftie arguments? I think it’s more than lefties who would want to guard jealously the “free at the point of delivery” point.

And there are people who would GENUINELY have a problem in finding a spare 50p in their budget - people who don’t eat themselves so that their children can, people who have to limit how much they use their heating etc etc etc.

 

[darkwolf666]

**** cough **** National Insurance payments !!!!!

Ok, so it's not free to anyone! But equally one shouldn't then pay extra to jump the queue.

 

[KZNSeagull]

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).

 

[pb21]

Why do people have such an attitude not to give a sh*t?

It's not just missed DRs appointments, a lot of people's general day to day attitude is not to give a shit, from important things like this through to more trivial (littering, not picking up dog mess, not returning shopping trollies, not indicating at roundabouts).

A lot of people just don't give a shit.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Sometimes taking the man out is a better strategy, can I take ball and the man

I hate the waste of money or time, especially if it affects a business like the NHS who are trying to help people.

Why do people have such an attitude not to give a sh*t?

When Reid comes on and openly admits this to millions and brushes off like that it pisses me off and is really inexcusable.

A small fee is fine with me, I can only remember ever missing one appointment as I was stuck on the m25, but I still rang in and gave them an hour and a half notice, asking to just move it back, as I was trying to help them catch up, as many surgeries run late and they actually said NO, you will have to rebook.
Where was the common sense in that? As it happened I have just recalled that the M25 cleared up, and I made it with a minute to spare!

But the point is a cared to do it, can I really be in the minority in doing this?

I suppose it does really comes down to ethics and principles, so many do not have these nowadays.

This may sound a bit up myself, but they are my core beliefs.

You're quite right some times man and ball is the way to go!

I'd also go along with your ethics and principles, which is why I think universal freely accessible at the point of need health care is such a great thing. My respect for other people means that I know their needs for health care are as important as mine (it is actually up to the health care professionals in discussion with those being cared for to decide the immediate priorities); therefore they need the same access to that care (and those professionals) as I do. It's only by guaranteeing that this is free and genuinely available, that the playing field is kept level.

At 57 I am old enough to remember my maternal grandmother telling me about her experience pre-NHS, when a visit to the doctors was dependent on there being the cash available to pay for it. The cash wasn't always there. Consequently people were unable to go and as a result they suffered; it is not a situation people should/need to have to face.