Why doesn't the NHS charge for missed GP appointments?

This would penalise the most vulnerable, who are more likely to miss appointments and less able to provide evidence of their reason. If you are elderly or sick the extra burden of providing evidence for missed appointments or of a charge would be very significant. Do you really want a pensioner who forgets an appointment to be charged each time? There is also a big risk of people not making appointments due to fear of the charge, meaning they present later in their illness, or present somewhere else such as A&E, increasing cost to the NHS and potentially resulting in a poorer outcome for the patient.

This would penalise the most vulnerable, who are more likely to miss appointments and less able to provide evidence of their reason. If you are elderly or sick the extra burden of providing evidence for missed appointments or of a charge would be very significant. Do you really want a pensioner who forgets an appointment to be charged each time? There is also a big risk of people not making appointments due to fear of the charge, meaning they present later in their illness, or present somewhere else such as A&E, increasing cost to the NHS and potentially resulting in a poorer outcome for the patient.

This would penalise the most vulnerable, who are more likely to miss appointments and less able to provide evidence of their reason. If you are elderly or sick the extra burden of providing evidence for missed appointments or of a charge would be very significant. Do you really want a pensioner who forgets an appointment to be charged each time? There is also a big risk of people not making appointments due to fear of the charge, meaning they present later in their illness, or present somewhere else such as A&E, increasing cost to the NHS and potentially resulting in a poorer outcome for the patient.

This would penalise the most vulnerable, who are more likely to miss appointments and less able to provide evidence of their reason. If you are elderly or sick the extra burden of providing evidence for missed appointments or of a charge would be very significant. Do you really want a pensioner who forgets an appointment to be charged each time? There is also a big risk of people not making appointments due to fear of the charge, meaning they present later in their illness, or present somewhere else such as A&E, increasing cost to the NHS and potentially resulting in a poorer outcome for the patient.

Yes. With the amount of reminders available if they're constantly forgetting their appointments then they should be charged for wasting precious time and resources.
they can cancel the appointment beforehand without being charged, they would only be charged if they never turn up and don't present a valid reason. They can always reschedule, ask for a phone consultation or a doctors visit if its an emergency.

What reminders do they have available to them, other than a date and time on an appointment card? What counts as a 'valid' reason for missing an appointment and who would decide this and administer the fines? Even just employing people to implement this sounds very expensive, before you go on to consider the other points I made above.

What about a deposit system then? Pay £5-10 for an appointment and get it refunded when the doctor presses a button to confirm you attended?

So its an extra piece of administration for GPs? Do you think many of them would be willing to judge their patients reason for non-attendance as deserving of a fine when it could jeopardise their relationship with their patients? If the patient felt they had been charged unfairly who would deal with this, the GP also?

So what's your solution to the problem of missed appointments? Allow people to keep taking the piss?

That's the problem with most modern societies, it is always excuses after excuses which in the end results in nothing ever being done or improved which is probably the reason why most of the systems in place are one by one failing miserably.