£25 to see the Doctor?

The_White_Horse

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

Books are free to borrow from libraries, yet many never set foot in a library.

because the majority of this country is made up of idiotic useless waster chav who would rather watch jeremy kyle than read a book (if they can even read).

there should be an initial £25 charge for seeing a gp (except for children) and no charge if the doctor orders a follow up appointment or if there is a recurring issue. But £25 for each new problem.

and ALL (except kids) should pay it. Otherwise you just penalise the decent hard workers and the rest will still abuse it.

lostinrates

The_White_Horse wrote: »

because the majority of this country is made up of idiotic useless waster chav who would rather watch jeremy kyle than read a book (if they can even read).

there should be an initial £25 charge for seeing a gp (except for children) and no charge if the doctor orders a follow up appointment or if there is a recurring issue. But £25 for each new problem.

and ALL (except kids) should pay it. Otherwise you just penalise the decent hard workers and the rest will still abuse it.

Its hard to define 'new problems'. Many are interrelated. A broken arm might be Cleary different from, say, a fungal toenail, but my neurological problems impact on my endocrine system and now my gastrointestinal system is under investigation. The problems might occur discreetly or together. Lots of health problems link together to form complex conditions which come clear over time.

an9i77

rabbit_burrow wrote: »

Although people are blaming late running appointments due to the amount of people making appointments for stupid things, I suspect that actually the late running is due to the fact that appointment bookings are for 10minute blocks & there are quite a few people that have ailments that may require more than 10 minutes. All it takes is for 6 people (1 hour's worth of appointments) to take just 5 minutes longer and you've created a late running backlog of half an hour.

I think more should be done about looking into the appointment system rather than assuming it's timewasters' faults & then charging everyone a fee.

Surely the people who miss appointments are therefore helping the above system, by reducing some of the backlog? the GPs should be glad of them, not wanting to fine them.

Errata

In fact GP's cope very easily with DNA's because it gives them 7 minutes to catch up on their paperwork. My practice posts the number of weekly DNA's and it works out at one per GP per session.

an9i77

Errata wrote: »

In fact GP's cope very easily with DNA's because it gives them 7 minutes to catch up on their paperwork. My practice posts the number of weekly DNA's and it works out at one per GP per session.

I work in a job where sometimes we have people booked in one every twenty minutes for an individual session, and I love it when people don't turn up it gives you a breather!

grizzly1911

Errata wrote: »

In fact GP's cope very easily with DNA's because it gives them 7 minutes to catch up on their paperwork. My practice posts the number of weekly DNA's and it works out at one per GP per session.

an9i77 wrote: »

I work in a job where sometimes we have people booked in one every twenty minutes for an individual session, and I love it when people don't turn up it gives you a breather!

Does the target time rely on no shows to make it workable? Is their actually a "no show" expectation built in?

If they had rolling "all shows" day in day out would the system stand it?

chewmylegoff

The_White_Horse wrote: »

because the majority of this country is made up of idiotic useless waster chav who would rather watch jeremy kyle than read a book (if they can even read).

there should be an initial £25 charge for seeing a gp (except for children) and no charge if the doctor orders a follow up appointment or if there is a recurring issue. But £25 for each new problem.

and ALL (except kids) should pay it. Otherwise you just penalise the decent hard workers and the rest will still abuse it.

But then we will just end up with our GP surgeries full of entitlement riddled middle class benefit scrounges wanting the doctor to look at their child's runny nose.

IveSeenTheLight

Carl31 wrote: »

Just watching Matthew Wright on Channel 5, who is discussing a story where a £25 charge has been suggested to see a GP in order to cut down on time wasters and the strain they place on the NHS

I am all for charging for appointments for those exact reasons, it might also make people look after themselves more, however i feel £25 is too much. Is this a fair amount to be charged?

I think it should be more like the current prescription charge, with no further charge for medication

In Malaysia, even if you are off for one day, you need a doctors medical note.

This costs 50 Ringgits (or it did at the time I was there)
So the employee, visits the doctor, gets the note and then submits to the company for expenses.

I believe that in many occasions doctors are happy to sign off medical notes of absence as it is an easy way to make additional money.

The companies should just do away with it as it really isn't the same level as we would expect in the UK.

Toxicity

My doctors surgery does a 3 strikes and you're out type thing when it comes to people not turning up.

In regards to the suggestion of a £25 charge, bad idea. I saw a doctor 3 times last week with an ear infection. Monday, got fobbed off. Thursday, got given incorrect drops that made it worse. Final appointment was with an out of hours service at the weekend who finally gave me the correct medication. That's potentially a £75 charge (+ prescriptons) through no fault of my own.

CynicalScotsman

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I have mixed feelings on this.

Personally, I would be okay about paying a minimal charge to see the doctor (say £10) PROVIDED it was a typical "old-fashioned family doctor" type scenario again and I got a decent length/on time appointment (say 20 minutes for an appointment).

:rotfl::T

This made me laugh!!!

£10 for 20 minutes!

How about real world charges if you want a private 'family doctor'

Prices:
15 minutes - £70 30 minutes - £128

From Bupa!