Sounds like charging for missed appointments would make people take it less for granted.
Missed a bus sounds like a you problem. Have a bill
Had an actual emergence that cool we understand. No bill for you.
So the Tax we already pay?
Would we not than end up being a turn towards a semi private system
I don’t think there’s an suggestion that it’ll fix the backlog in its entirety, but I may take a bit of the burden off the NHS derived from missed appointments to implement such a policy.
Yeh I really don’t understand how this system would work
I’m a GP partner and work in a deprived area. If we charge £10 for every DNA, who would enforce this? Am I supposed to not see a patient if they owe us £10? Is my staff supposed to ring and chase up £10 fines? Does it just rack up until there’s enough there that is worth chasing but of course at that point the patient is unlikely to be able to actually afford it?
It clearly was a political throw away comment so they can say we are doing something for the NHS
For what is worth I personally don’t think charging people for missed appointments is a great idea. And I think the backlog is a separate issue.
However it is a real problem. If someone misses that appointment (for whatever reason), then somebody else could have had that appointment.
Two weeks ago there was a very real possibility I was going to miss an appointment with my GP. I phoned the Practice once I became aware that there had been an accident that was impacting on the bus services – after almost 18 minutes I finally got through and was told in no uncertain terms that if I attended more than five minutes after my appointment I wouldn’t be seen, and I would have to rebook. No consideration of the mitigating circumstances, no consideration of the fact I was phoning through to notify them, no consideration that there is supposed to be a ‘flag’ on my record that indicates I find going outside to be extremely difficult and only something I do in the most necessary of circumstances etc.
The appointment was to discuss the outcome of an MRI and subsequent review of that MRI, by a cardiologist. It was, I was told, ‘very very important’ that I attend the appointment.
I had to resort to paying £9 for an uber that was able to take a different route to the Practice and which got me there 4 minutes before my appointment.
**48 minutes** after my appointment time I was finally called into see a GP. When I enquired at reception afterwards I was told that GPs are very busy and that I should be grateful I was able to get an appointment.
Putting to one side the impracticality of implementing such a system – the cost of such scheme will doubtless cost more to implement and administer than it recovers in fines – people are going to expect that it “works both ways” – i.e. if I’m fined for missing an appointment – either due to not physically attending, or arriving 6 minutes late due to circumstances beyond my control – there are going to be a vocal subset of people who are going to want to know what will be done when they’re forced to sit in the waiting area 15, 20, 30, 40 minutes after their appointment was scheduled.
The move to more triage appointments has likely cut down on F2F appointments so hopefully the number of missed appointments decreases. I don’t honestly think people miss appointment deliberately, given how bloody difficult they can be to get in the first place – perhaps there needs to be an emphasis placed on reminding people that if they’re unable to attend the routine appointment they booked 8 weeks ago, it’s important to cancel it so as to allow it to be allocated to one of the lucky ones who are able to be seen the same day?
Its something for Sunak to say in order to avoid mentioning his lack of plan for the things that actually matter.
They say stuff like this to sound tough. But again no thought has gone into it, they just want the headlines…
Folk should be charged 10 quid for EVERY NHS appointment. It’ll cut down on the nonsense appointments for starters.
Did someone say it was?
It’s the sort of policy or solution you hear about suggested in a pub, with little thought or insight to back it up. You would expect someone vying to be PM would have a better understanding of the situation.
No shit. Fines are punishment for the poor, and the poor only. Fuck who would vote these C*NTS in? We gotta post a high voter turnout! Things have to change
It’s never gonna happen. It’s just for the populist vote. It’s like those change,org petitions to make the punishment for theft more if it’s theft of a workman’s tools.
The aim here is not to solve the problem but to deflect from the real causes (unending chaotic government driven change, poor pay, overwork, loss of EU staff) and to make it easier to justify the horrifically inefficient and unbelievably callous US system (whose suppliers Jeremy Hunt talked about adoringly during his time as Health Secretary) being introduced.
The people pushing this are monsters who DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE NHS. They don’t use it and would much rather have a tax cut than you or I have access to healthcare.
Made a appointment 3 weeks ago (earliest I could get!) Said call would be at half 2. But could be from 2pm.
They rang at quarter past 1!
Why charging patients WOULD work.
1) some Tory bullshit reason
2) it sounds good in the daily mail
I could take or leave the idea really. But I find it interesting that last week there was a thread on here of “how would YOU improve the NHS?” and this idea was, I’m sure, the top rated comment.
I think the real issue here is actually getting an appointment with the NHS , let alone having a fine fit bit attending. Current waiting times for cancer appointments and operations are diabolical . Plus the private sector are nearly as bad , because if the knock on effect . We’re up shi# creek without a paddle , whatever way you look at it !
Physio would be fucking raking it in if they charged for DNAs.
This would be a great idea if we could also charge the NHS for delays in treatment and not being able to get a GP appointment within an agreed timescale
It’s typical Conservative government divide and conquer tactics trying to make it our fault the NHS has no money to deflect from the fact that its there fault. Imagine the amount of money it will take for them to implement a system to keep track and enforce payments from individual’s that miss appointments. It wouldn’t be economically viable.
Things like this are weird.
I wouldn’t be surprised if charging everyone £10 for missed appointments would mean missed appointments go UP.
In addition to the various serious problems already raised in the comments, there are clerical issues within the system that mean this could not be rolled out.
Have had appointments made for me but no letter to inform me, others where the letter arrived after the appointment date and which were postdated the day of the appointment, appointments made in error (i.e., for someone else but with my details) which arrived when I was out of the country, letters which had incorrect contact details for letting them know that I couldn’t make the appointment and for which I was unable to find the correct details anywhere, letters sent to an address I hadn’t lived in for 15 years and which was not linked to any doctor I’d seen since childhood, appointments which I did cancel but where the cancellation was never recorded.
I’ve had far, far more of these appointment notifications that went wrong than ones which went out as they should, and with one clinic had to go to some lengths to prove the problem was not me to avoid being kicked off their waiting list (that at least triggered an internal investigation which revealed that outgoing post was not being collected from their department on schedule and that piles of it were sometimes being dumped on the hospital grounds). Consequently, though I’ve always either attended on time or cancelled in a timely fashion when the system is working correctly, there’ll be a list somewhere that has me in excess of 20 non-attendances.
So, when I’d see those “non-attendance” charts in waiting rooms, I’d wonder how many of those were actually due to patients not bothering to cancel appointments they couldn’t make, and how many were just because they had no idea an appointment had been made.
Do I get paid every time my GP is more than 10 minutes late for my appointment too? Because I’ll be raking it in.
It’s a simple fix, really:
Book an appointment with your GP but then no-show it without any advance notice/cancellation prior to the time of your appointment?
No future NHS services for you!
Eventually, Dwarwinism will sort out the problem for us, and there’ll be a lot more good, honest, and punctual people in the land 🙂
25 comments
Sounds like charging for missed appointments would make people take it less for granted.
Missed a bus sounds like a you problem. Have a bill
Had an actual emergence that cool we understand. No bill for you.
So the Tax we already pay?
Would we not than end up being a turn towards a semi private system
I don’t think there’s an suggestion that it’ll fix the backlog in its entirety, but I may take a bit of the burden off the NHS derived from missed appointments to implement such a policy.
Yeh I really don’t understand how this system would work
I’m a GP partner and work in a deprived area. If we charge £10 for every DNA, who would enforce this? Am I supposed to not see a patient if they owe us £10? Is my staff supposed to ring and chase up £10 fines? Does it just rack up until there’s enough there that is worth chasing but of course at that point the patient is unlikely to be able to actually afford it?
It clearly was a political throw away comment so they can say we are doing something for the NHS
For what is worth I personally don’t think charging people for missed appointments is a great idea. And I think the backlog is a separate issue.
However it is a real problem. If someone misses that appointment (for whatever reason), then somebody else could have had that appointment.
Two weeks ago there was a very real possibility I was going to miss an appointment with my GP. I phoned the Practice once I became aware that there had been an accident that was impacting on the bus services – after almost 18 minutes I finally got through and was told in no uncertain terms that if I attended more than five minutes after my appointment I wouldn’t be seen, and I would have to rebook. No consideration of the mitigating circumstances, no consideration of the fact I was phoning through to notify them, no consideration that there is supposed to be a ‘flag’ on my record that indicates I find going outside to be extremely difficult and only something I do in the most necessary of circumstances etc.
The appointment was to discuss the outcome of an MRI and subsequent review of that MRI, by a cardiologist. It was, I was told, ‘very very important’ that I attend the appointment.
I had to resort to paying £9 for an uber that was able to take a different route to the Practice and which got me there 4 minutes before my appointment.
**48 minutes** after my appointment time I was finally called into see a GP. When I enquired at reception afterwards I was told that GPs are very busy and that I should be grateful I was able to get an appointment.
Putting to one side the impracticality of implementing such a system – the cost of such scheme will doubtless cost more to implement and administer than it recovers in fines – people are going to expect that it “works both ways” – i.e. if I’m fined for missing an appointment – either due to not physically attending, or arriving 6 minutes late due to circumstances beyond my control – there are going to be a vocal subset of people who are going to want to know what will be done when they’re forced to sit in the waiting area 15, 20, 30, 40 minutes after their appointment was scheduled.
The move to more triage appointments has likely cut down on F2F appointments so hopefully the number of missed appointments decreases. I don’t honestly think people miss appointment deliberately, given how bloody difficult they can be to get in the first place – perhaps there needs to be an emphasis placed on reminding people that if they’re unable to attend the routine appointment they booked 8 weeks ago, it’s important to cancel it so as to allow it to be allocated to one of the lucky ones who are able to be seen the same day?
Its something for Sunak to say in order to avoid mentioning his lack of plan for the things that actually matter.
They say stuff like this to sound tough. But again no thought has gone into it, they just want the headlines…
Folk should be charged 10 quid for EVERY NHS appointment. It’ll cut down on the nonsense appointments for starters.
Did someone say it was?
It’s the sort of policy or solution you hear about suggested in a pub, with little thought or insight to back it up. You would expect someone vying to be PM would have a better understanding of the situation.
No shit. Fines are punishment for the poor, and the poor only. Fuck who would vote these C*NTS in? We gotta post a high voter turnout! Things have to change
It’s never gonna happen. It’s just for the populist vote. It’s like those change,org petitions to make the punishment for theft more if it’s theft of a workman’s tools.
The aim here is not to solve the problem but to deflect from the real causes (unending chaotic government driven change, poor pay, overwork, loss of EU staff) and to make it easier to justify the horrifically inefficient and unbelievably callous US system (whose suppliers Jeremy Hunt talked about adoringly during his time as Health Secretary) being introduced.
The people pushing this are monsters who DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE NHS. They don’t use it and would much rather have a tax cut than you or I have access to healthcare.
Made a appointment 3 weeks ago (earliest I could get!) Said call would be at half 2. But could be from 2pm.
They rang at quarter past 1!
Why charging patients WOULD work.
1) some Tory bullshit reason
2) it sounds good in the daily mail
I could take or leave the idea really. But I find it interesting that last week there was a thread on here of “how would YOU improve the NHS?” and this idea was, I’m sure, the top rated comment.
I think the real issue here is actually getting an appointment with the NHS , let alone having a fine fit bit attending. Current waiting times for cancer appointments and operations are diabolical . Plus the private sector are nearly as bad , because if the knock on effect . We’re up shi# creek without a paddle , whatever way you look at it !
Physio would be fucking raking it in if they charged for DNAs.
This would be a great idea if we could also charge the NHS for delays in treatment and not being able to get a GP appointment within an agreed timescale
It’s typical Conservative government divide and conquer tactics trying to make it our fault the NHS has no money to deflect from the fact that its there fault. Imagine the amount of money it will take for them to implement a system to keep track and enforce payments from individual’s that miss appointments. It wouldn’t be economically viable.
Things like this are weird.
I wouldn’t be surprised if charging everyone £10 for missed appointments would mean missed appointments go UP.
In addition to the various serious problems already raised in the comments, there are clerical issues within the system that mean this could not be rolled out.
Have had appointments made for me but no letter to inform me, others where the letter arrived after the appointment date and which were postdated the day of the appointment, appointments made in error (i.e., for someone else but with my details) which arrived when I was out of the country, letters which had incorrect contact details for letting them know that I couldn’t make the appointment and for which I was unable to find the correct details anywhere, letters sent to an address I hadn’t lived in for 15 years and which was not linked to any doctor I’d seen since childhood, appointments which I did cancel but where the cancellation was never recorded.
I’ve had far, far more of these appointment notifications that went wrong than ones which went out as they should, and with one clinic had to go to some lengths to prove the problem was not me to avoid being kicked off their waiting list (that at least triggered an internal investigation which revealed that outgoing post was not being collected from their department on schedule and that piles of it were sometimes being dumped on the hospital grounds). Consequently, though I’ve always either attended on time or cancelled in a timely fashion when the system is working correctly, there’ll be a list somewhere that has me in excess of 20 non-attendances.
So, when I’d see those “non-attendance” charts in waiting rooms, I’d wonder how many of those were actually due to patients not bothering to cancel appointments they couldn’t make, and how many were just because they had no idea an appointment had been made.
Do I get paid every time my GP is more than 10 minutes late for my appointment too? Because I’ll be raking it in.
It’s a simple fix, really:
Book an appointment with your GP but then no-show it without any advance notice/cancellation prior to the time of your appointment?
No future NHS services for you!
Eventually, Dwarwinism will sort out the problem for us, and there’ll be a lot more good, honest, and punctual people in the land 🙂