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The aspiring Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced plans to introduce a £10 fine for missed GP and hospital appointments if elected.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Sunak said the fines would encourage people to turn up to their appointments and ensure that slots were not taken away “from people who need [them]”.
Patients would not be charged for their first missed appointment, but would be fined £10 for any others they fail to turn up for.
Mr Sunak said the measures would be part of a ‘temporary’ plan to tackle the backlog caused by Covid-19.
Penalising patients could make matters worse
However, Professor Philip Banfield, BMA council chair, said charging patients for missed appointments is not the answer to tackling the backlog of care, and could make matters worse.
He said: “It’s terribly disappointing that the candidates standing to be the next prime minister seem to have so little understanding of the reality facing our NHS, or what it will take to turn around the impact of the government’s repeated mistakes and the now mammoth backlog of care.
“This latest suggestion would likely make matters worse. Charging patients for missed appointments would not only undermine the essential trust between doctor and patient, but ultimately threaten the fundamental principle that the NHS delivers free care at the point of need, for all. The BMA has always stood firmly against the idea of charging patients for missed appointments.”
The BMA admits that it is frustrating when patients miss appointments, but says there could be a variety of reasons behind this and these should be investigated rather than punished. Prof Banfield adds that financially penalising patients will heavily impact the poorest and most vulnerable and could exacerbate health inequalities and cost the NHS more.
Instead, the Association is calling on the next prime minister to tackle “the huge losses in pay suffered over the last decade”, scrap the “unfair” pensions tax rules, and ensure the NHS is adequately resourced for the “huge challenges it faces”.
Administrative burden could “far outweigh” the money brought in by fines
The NHS Confederation agrees that this proposal “will not solve the fundamental and long-term issues the NHS is grappling with” and says it is “important to recognise that the reasons patients do not or cannot attend their appointments will be complex”.
“Penalising them unfairly will not solve the problem and working with local communities to address the root causes is essential. The administrative burden this would place on the NHS risks being considerable and could well far outweigh the money brought in by the fines,” said Dr Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation.
Instead, the Confederation says that the government should focus its efforts on plugging the staffing shortage in health and social care and managing the impact of spiralling inflation costs impacting the NHS.