Fee-paying to see a GP will discourage numbers of people from seeking an early medical opinion and tend to induce us to wait until symptoms are severe.
This will have the effect of numbers approaching the GP only when their condition has become chronic. Most of us are unqualified to make such decisions. Should we delay or are we encountering early warning signs?
The knock-on effect will be larger numbers needing expensive hospital referrals with a consequent greater resource demand for the hospital sector.
Key to better health is early diagnosis and treatment. Curiously it is also significant to more effective use of existing resources. Fee paying as a principle runs counter to both these crucial criteria!
Fee paying will entail a new medical bureaucracy to collect and administer, sapping a significant portion of any outturn.
Fee paying will encourage people to seek less qualified medical opinion, on a basis of "what do you think?", which could be disastrous for the individual. As far as a founding principle of the NHS is concerned this could be a precursor of a "great leap backwards!"
A figure of £20 has been suggested but how long before this swells dramatically?
Having introduced the public to the fee paying notion, how long before fees creep in for other NHS services? – F.C.D Lawrence, Lydney.