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

Whilst I can see the arguments for a charge, there are definite arguments against it. Some people with mental health problems have trouble keeping appointments due to stress, anxiety, depression etc. Appointments can be a real problem for people with sleep disorders. Elderly people might be forgetful. Those are probably the kind of people who would then put off making an appointment just in case they end up missing it, so something easily treatable might turn into something worse.

There will always be problems with the NHS. Some people don't go to their GP until they see no other option, whilst they should have gone a lot sooner. Some people constantly turn up for the smallest thing that will just go away on its own. Weekends at A & E are horrible because of all the people off their heads on drink and drugs. That's what you get with a universal health service, though. It would be nice if people were a bit more sensible, but everyone has their issues.

I'd personally much rather pay a bit more in tax to preserve the NHS than see the introduction of charges that would affect the poor and vulnerable.

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.

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?

yep, couldn't agree more.
We should charge people who constantly miss appointments as they are wasting money and resources. Maybe next time they won't miss the appointments.appointments .
Whilst we are at it, people who clog up a & e because they don't know when to stop drinking should also face a fine. That should help the alcoholism problem in this country somewhat

Do you mean the type of patients that GPs hate because they cause problems?

I know your not a GP because they would never make that kind of comment. Bitter you weren't smart enough to get into medicine?

It's always been a sad conservative tactic to label people in vulnerable situations as responsible for their circumstances. What i'm always trying to figure out is whether there are really this many sociopaths in society, or worse, people that understand people's unfortunate circumstances and don't give a ****.

No I'm not a go and in not uoset I never chose a career in medicine.

Some vulnerable people miss appointments. But not all peole who miss appointments are vunerable.

Missed appointments are an unnecessary strain on the nhs.

So no, I'm not a sociopath for realisig that somebody not turning up for an appointment is increasing running costs of the nhs.

Good, i'd agree with you. But, if you are to start charging for missed appointments there is no way of judging who is vulnerable and who isn't. People pay taxes all their lives, especially the elderly, so i think they've paid enough to not have to pay for missing one appointment. The NHS does need more funding yes, but this should come from higher taxation, a clamp down on tax avoidance, and stop wasting 130bn on Trident.

I think it's care to say that Drs know who's vunerable and who's not. They're quite apt at knowing who the feckless are.

I know GPs have called for this in the past.

I've got a friend who's a nurse in a casualty department. She knows the dunk and drugged idiots she's dealing with who aren't vunerable, just as she knows the estimated 9 out of 10 visitors to A&E that require no medical treatment aren't vunerable in most cases.
The radiographer my cousin married who spends a good chunk of his time re x raying people a limbs who chose to task castes off early aren't vunerabke, but they clog up the system and create additional cost.

Most people pay into the nhs, however token payements. Token payements don't mean you always get more back.

I don't want to pay more taxes. I want to see efficiency savings made such as all appointment slots used.

I don't know why you're quiting a 40 year lifetime cost of trident in this debate. Try qouting the annual running cost of about £3 billion which is about 2.5% of the nhs budget. If you want to get angry, get angry about the £30bn a year on loan repayments.

When you say most vulnerable, do you mean the most feckless?

All those reasons seem like they'd come under, valid reasons for missing an appointment.

Given that we increasingly seem faced with a choice between the nhs dying a slow death or some sort of change in how it is funded, id rather see fines for wasting time than an increase in tax.

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This is probably one of those things that would cost more to implement relative to the amount of income it produced, considering all of the infrastructure that would have to be put in place to do it.

I'd very much have to disagree with this (at least for GPs and doctors who don't see the patient more than once or twice), my doctor was clueless to the fact I was suicidal despite me being there for that exact reason. h.

So did you tell him that you were suicidal?

That is clearly not what she meant.

Well she did. She's tried to make the assumption that everybody who misses an appointment is vunerable.

I've missed two GP appointments in my time. I forgot. No charge.

Never missed a dental appointment or an opticians appointment.