- GPs at the BMA conference in York will vote on plans today
- The fee would be the first since the NHS was founded in 1948
- Doctors behind the proposal say the aim is to tackle the problem of missed appointments, which cost the NHS £160million a year
- But senior doctors have expressed their concern say charging patients would hit most vulnerable in society and harm the nation’s health
- Fears patients would put off seeing their GP and instead turn up at already under-pressure AE departments Â
04:51 EST, 22 May 2014
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08:16 EST, 22 May 2014
GPs will today debate whether to charge patients up to £25 for appointments.
The idea will be put to delegates at the British Medical Association conference in York, inspired by a need to deter patients from missing their appointments – a problem that costs the NHS £160million a year.
If passed, the BMA would then have to decide whether to ask the Department of Health to impose a national charging system.
The potential fees – which would be the first since the NHS was founded in 1948 – could be used to plug the critical shortage in GP funding.
GPs will today be asked to vote on plans to charge patients for their appointments. It comes amid fears from senior medics that the proposals will harm the nation’s health and disadvantage the most vulnerable in society. (File picture)
But in a letter to The Telegraph, leading medics have warned the plans threaten to hit the poorest and most vulnerable in society and have a detrimental affect on the nation’s health.
Clare Gerada, past chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners and Dr Clive Peedell, joint leader of the National Health Action Party, have signed the letter, along with 539 doctors and medical students.
It called on BMA delegates to reject the plans, which could involve charges of between £10 and £25.
The letter said: ‘User fees are a disincentive to accessing health care, and target the poorest disproportionately.
‘They lead to worsening care for chronic conditions, and to more people seeking treatment at AE.’
‘The poorest and sickest in society must not foot the bill for the lack of political commitment to sustainable funding for GP services.’
One GP told the Daily Mail they lost an entire morning’s work when 14 patients failed to turn up.
Others believe the free care offered by the Health Service is unsustainable in the face of an aging and increasingly obese population.
It is feared however that charging would stop patients seeking help or encourage them to go to overstretched casualty units.
Under the proposals it is likely the elderly, children, pregnant women and others will be exempt or charged less.
Patients could be charged when they book an appointment – an incentive to turn up.
But there are fears that charging would stop patients seeking help or encourage them to go to overstretched casualty units
The
GP practice would pocket the money – as happens with charges for
writing letters or signing forms – to be reinvested into services.
In France patients pay a flat rate of 23 euros (£19) to see a GP and most are reimbursed by insurers, leaving them with a bill of about six euros (£5).
But campaigners and many family doctors – including the leaders of the BMA – oppose the idea in Britain.
Dr Mike Smith, who chairs the Patients Association, said: ‘A move to charge for routine appointments will have a devastating impact on many vulnerable patients.
‘This will put pressure on already stretched AE services as people would be reluctant to pay to visit their GP and will present themselves at the emergency services.
‘There are many people today who cannot afford to pay for every GP appointment.
‘This practice can be seen as nothing less than profiteering from the most vulnerable as they attempt to access healthcare which is theirs by right.’
Opponent: Doctor Chaand Nagpaul, the chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee and a family GP in north-west London
Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee and a family doctor in North West London, said: ‘The BMA policy still is that we do not support charging patients because it is against the NHS’s care being provided at the point of delivery.
‘Anyone who is ill should not have to consider cost as a barrier to seeing their GP.’
But Alex Wild, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group, said: ‘Missed and unnecessary GP appointments cost taxpayers a fortune so it’s no wonder that charges are being considered.
‘But until GPs drastically improve the service they provide by working out of office hours and reintroducing more responsive appointments, they should not be asking hard-pressed families to cough up even more cash for a substandard system.
‘Primary care must be run for patients, not for doctors.’
Dr Nigel Watson, chief executive of the Wessex local medical committee, which is proposing the motion, said: ‘Personally I feel that services should be free at the point of access.
‘The problem we have at the moment is that the resources that are available don’t meet the demand. This is about having a debate about how we move things forward.
‘General practice is still seen around the world as one of the strengths of the NHS. To continue this and to build on out-of-hospital care we need more resources.
‘If that can’t be obtained by taxation it’s going to have to come either from closing hospitals down – which is incredibly difficult – or resources need to come from elsewhere.
‘Many of us wouldn’t want it to come from charging patients but that’s why we need a debate.’
The motion – uncovered by Pulse magazine – calls on the BMA to ‘explore national charging for general practice services with the UK governments’.
GPs will also vote on whether to defy the Government’s plans for them to keep surgeries open from 8am to 8pm to make it easier for patients to get appointments.
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mr as it is,
london, United Kingdom,
moments ago
There be No charge if your on Benefits….and the working man screwed again
J J,
La La Land,
moments ago
Another step towards dying early so you so won’t reach pension age for them to have to pay out!
free spirit,
south coast, United Kingdom,
6 minutes ago
My G.P. has the ‘call back’ system.Would she now be tempted to make appointments for me instead to pocket the £25?
Nix,
Reading,
8 minutes ago
The NHS, despite it’s faults is still one of this countries greatest achievements. If it goes, it will never come back and we face sliding backwards to the start of the last century when only the rich could afford decent health care. The idea of charging patients for appointments is abhorrent and must be stopped now.
Anon,
UK, United Kingdom,
10 minutes ago
If I am diagnosed, correctly the first time and treated correctly the first time, it would probably be cheaper than the months of appointments and medication that doesn’t work, the wasted time, the hanging around on the phone waiting to get through. I want the best medicine, not the cheapest and then if that doesn’t work we’ll try the next one up the list. The I would only have to come once and not clog up your waiting room time and time again, explaining over and over what the problem is. If I am paying for a service, I expect it to be perfect.
wkdmarty,
Reading,
11 minutes ago
No, I wouldn’t pay for a doctors appointment, I pay enough in NI and Taxes already!!! Stop fleecing the working person and throwing money at international aid!!
Steelman,
Sheffield,
11 minutes ago
Appointments are not seen as a valuable commodity in the NHS. I made an appointment for help giving up smoking and the nurse would only prescribe five days supply of nicotine replacement saying I would have to make another appointment so she could show me how much my blood CO levels had reduced “to motivate meâ€. I really didn’t want to do that, but she insisted. The difficulty of co-ordinating giving up with getting an appointment delayed me stopping smoking by three months and when I arrived at the appointment it was a locum nurse who couldn’t find the CO machine and told me “the cravings will never go awayâ€. If that wasn’t enough to make me start smoking again, she then prescribed the wrong thing so I had to return to the surgery the next day and wait for a doctor to be free to prescribe the right therapy. It was a complete waste of time and a real insight into why you have to wait weeks for an appointment. Sadly it’s a far from isolated example.
noel,
Blackburn, United Kingdom,
12 minutes ago
Another nail in the coffin of the NHS
Tom Welsh,
Basingstoke,
16 minutes ago
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful idea if we could all get the medical treatment we needed free of charge – and pay for the whole system through our taxes? We could call it something like “The National Health Serviceâ€.
It’ll never happen, though.
p2244a,
london, United Kingdom,
19 minutes ago
how stupid, people can’t afford to live now. Are they trying to bump us off?
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