Re: Wealth re-distribution : Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:51 am  

Cronus wrote:

I would love to see a refundable charge for appointments. £5 paid upfront and refunded when the patient turns up, but kept if they don't. Each missed appointment increases your deposit by £1.

It would not only reduce the number of missed appointments massively, it would also make timewasters think twice about whether they actually need to go to the GP.

According to the NHS 1 in 20 appointments are missed, that's 15.4 million costing £216 million. We should put that on the side of a bus or something.

Yes because putting stuff on the side of buses influences voting patterns

Agree with you idea only problem is the cost of administering the taking/returning of deposits

Re: Wealth re-distribution : Sat Jan 12, 2019 4:53 pm  

Cronus wrote:

I would love to see a refundable charge for appointments. £5 paid upfront and refunded when the patient turns up, but kept if they don't. Each missed appointment increases your deposit by £1.

It would not only reduce the number of missed appointments massively, it would also make timewasters think twice about whether they actually need to go to the GP.

According to the NHS 1 in 20 appointments are missed, that's 15.4 million costing £216 million. We should put that on the side of a bus or something.

Although in most cases, people missing appointments ought to be charged for (if it could be done effectively and efficiently), it would be interesting to know how many appointments are missed now as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago ??

Although no doubt costly, these issues are usually borught up by those not wishing to dfund services properly, rather than geniune concern for the ncost.

Re: Wealth re-distribution : Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:32 pm  

Cronus wrote:

I would love to see a refundable charge for appointments. £5 paid upfront and refunded when the patient turns up, but kept if they don't. Each missed appointment increases your deposit by £1.

It would not only reduce the number of missed appointments massively, it would also make timewasters think twice about whether they actually need to go to the GP.

According to the NHS 1 in 20 appointments are missed, that's 15.4 million costing £216 million. We should put that on the side of a bus or something.

Why should I pay £5 to see my GP when I’ve already paid more than that as a deduction from my wage each month?

Re: Wealth re-distribution : Sat Jan 12, 2019 10:13 pm  

Ruune Rebellion wrote:

Why should I pay £5 to see my GP when I’ve already paid more than that as a deduction from my wage each month?

Attend your appointment and you won't pay anything.

Re: Wealth re-distribution : Sat Jan 12, 2019 10:28 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote: Although in most cases, people missing appointments ought to be charged for (if it could be done effectively and efficiently), it would be interesting to know how many appointments are missed now as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago ?? Although no doubt costly, these issues are usually borught up by those not wishing to dfund services properly, rather than geniune concern for the ncost. Everyone under the sun has spoken about the cost of missed appointments. That's the oddest argument I think I've ever heard on this subject, given the NHS themselves raise it every year and are investing massively in solutions, not something they would do if in reality it wasn't such a big issue. And they're doing plenty already. My local GP sends several email & text & app reminders ahead of any appointment. A new portal - DrDoctor - is being rolled out as we speak. https://www.england.nhs.uk/2019/01/miss ... -millions/ Anyway, google tells me there were 6.5million missed in 2007-8, versus 15 million currently. There's probably some statistical inconsistency, that seems far to large a variance but frankly I can't be bothered digging. It's a no brainer for me. Prevent missed appointments and put off time-wasters. You know, the clueless, "my little cherub has a cold and I DEMAND ANTIBIOTICS." But no doubt the usual crowd will wail "you're victimising the pooooooorrrr."

wrencat1873 wrote: Although in most cases, people missing appointments ought to be charged for (if it could be done effectively and efficiently), it would be interesting to know how many appointments are missed now as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago ?? Although no doubt costly, these issues are usually borught up by those not wishing to dfund services properly, rather than geniune concern for the ncost. Everyone under the sun has spoken about the cost of missed appointments. That's the oddest argument I think I've ever heard on this subject, given the NHS themselves raise it every year and are investing massively in solutions, not something they would do if in reality it wasn't such a big issue. And they're doing plenty already. My local GP sends several email & text & app reminders ahead of any appointment. A new portal - DrDoctor - is being rolled out as we speak. https://www.england.nhs.uk/2019/01/miss ... -millions/ Anyway, google tells me there were 6.5million missed in 2007-8, versus 15 million currently. There's probably some statistical inconsistency, that seems far to large a variance but frankly I can't be bothered digging. It's a no brainer for me. Prevent missed appointments and put off time-wasters. You know, the clueless, "my little cherub has a cold and I DEMAND ANTIBIOTICS." But no doubt the usual crowd will wail "you're victimising the pooooooorrrr."

Re: Wealth re-distribution : Sat Jan 12, 2019 10:33 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Yes because putting stuff on the side of buses influences voting patterns

Agree with you idea only problem is the cost of administering the taking/returning of deposits

To listen to some people, the only thing you need to win any election or referendum is a message on a bus.

It would add work hours and systems expense, no doubt, but any investment would be repaid many times over within a few weeks. There are hundreds of fast & simple payment systems out there now that could do the job. Take the £5, hold the funds, then bank or release according to whether the patient turns up.

Re: Wealth re-distribution : Sun Jan 13, 2019 4:08 pm  

I can't believe paying for missed appointments isn't already in place. It would recoup millions.

My wife works for the NHS, and people not turning up for appointments, or turning up late then demanding to be seen straight away is a regular occurrence.

People think that because it's a free service, there are no financial implications when they miss their appointments.

Yes, there will be implementation costs, and it will require a level of administration, but in a 24/7 digital age I would think there's a reasonably successful solution.

Re: Wealth re-distribution : Mon Jan 14, 2019 10:32 am  

I don't disagree with the idea of efficiency and effectiveness measures - although working directly with many Trusts, it's undoubtedly the case that most are well past that and are now into the arena of cutting essential services; and the cause of that is, without question, the failure of Government to fund it properly. There could be an argument about whether that's deliberate or not, but when the Health Secretary is promoting an app that effectively privatises GP's and defunds existing surgeries, it's reasonable to err on the side of the former.

All that said, I do agree that a big drain on the NHS is the general public failing to look after themselves properly - smoking, alcohol and health conditions caused by obesity are costing £billions, and are in most cases entirely avoidable - but given the endless public health campaigns and the massive amount of information that is available to people these days, it does seem that great swathes of us just don't care enough to take appropriate steps.

Maybe the old maxim that familiarity breeds contempt comes into play - we're so used to the NHS picking up the pieces when we break ourselves, that we don't value it any more in the way we ought to? If certain Tories get their way and we do end up with a privatised system, we will quickly realise how good we had it.

Re: Wealth re-distribution : Mon Jan 14, 2019 1:38 pm  

bren2k wrote:

Maybe the old maxim that familiarity breeds contempt comes into play - we're so used to the NHS picking up the pieces when we break ourselves, that we don't value it any more in the way we ought to? If certain Tories get their way and we do end up with a privatised system, we will quickly realise how good we had it.

Looking at other countries, like the good ol' USofA, where being ill can be quite expensive it doesn't seem to make much of a difference, in fact they are worse than us. I certainly don't have any ready answers, but connecting people with the production of food they eat might be a start,

Re: Wealth re-distribution : Wed Jan 16, 2019 6:03 pm  

tigertot wrote:

Looking at other countries, like the good ol' USofA, where being ill can be quite expensive it doesn't seem to make much of a difference, in fact they are worse than us. I certainly don't have any ready answers, but connecting people with the production of food they eat might be a start,

A large chunk of the population has health insurance - a bit like us so why would their behaviour be any different - sadly?