{"id":1138,"date":"2023-01-25T09:02:45","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T09:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/i-fiercely-oppose-sajid-javids-proposal-to-introduce-fees-for-gp-appointments-and-ae-visits-dauk-co-chair-dr-ellen-welch-writes-in-the-metro\/"},"modified":"2023-01-25T09:02:45","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T09:02:45","slug":"i-fiercely-oppose-sajid-javids-proposal-to-introduce-fees-for-gp-appointments-and-ae-visits-dauk-co-chair-dr-ellen-welch-writes-in-the-metro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/i-fiercely-oppose-sajid-javids-proposal-to-introduce-fees-for-gp-appointments-and-ae-visits-dauk-co-chair-dr-ellen-welch-writes-in-the-metro\/","title":{"rendered":"“I fiercely oppose\u00a0Sajid Javid\u2019s proposal to introduce fees for GP appointments and A&E visits”: DAUK co-chair Dr Ellen Welch writes in the Metro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DAUK co-chair Dr Ellen Welch writes about her experience in working in private healthcare and says, “I fiercely oppose Sajid Javid<\/a>\u2019s proposal to introduce fees for GP appointments and A&E visits.” \n\n“His idea isn\u2019t new. Debates over NHS payments have raged since the creation of the service, and the evidence we have for charging patients shows that, even with exemptions in place, a fee to see the doctor widens health inequalities by deterring the poor and vulnerable from seeking help<\/a>.”\n\nDr Welch talks about her experience of providing healthcare service in a cruise ship, where medical care comes with a hefty bill, and says, “A cruise ship is a microcosm of society and I believe all these examples will play out on a wider scale if fees are introduced to the NHS.”\n\n“A recurring argument in favour of charging in the UK is the one that presumes a fee will reduce the \u2018unnecessary\u2019 presentations. The patients that \u2018don\u2019t need to be there\u2019 \u2013 that people \u2018will think twice\u2019. Well, I would disagree.\n\nI remember many patients happily paying at least $100 to see me on board the ship, when their money would\u2019ve been better spent elsewhere.”\n\nBut the fact a fee is in place does raise ethical questions. If a doctor asks for a follow up visit, are they being caring or will they be branded money-making?\n\nWe all heard rumours on board about the early days of cruise ship medicine, where staff worked on commission. Stories of patients attending with a cold, and being offered x-rays, swabs and bloods, and a host of expensive treatments, all for a substantial bill.\n\nPaying customers may want the reassurance of a barrage of tests \u2013 but unnecessary tests can have harm attached. Assigning a fee to healthcare changes the dynamic completely.\n\nJavid advocates introducing these fees, to \u2018help with the allocation of what will always be limited resources\u2019.\n\n\u2018What frustrates people,\u2019 said Javid, \u2018is having to wait for GP appointments.\u2019\n\nWhen I had a busy clinic on board, and a waiting room full of sick, paying passengers, they still all had to wait to see me. In my experience, a consultation fee doesn\u2019t help with waiting times. Just look at the waits for NHS Dentistry if you\u2019re not convinced.\n\nWhat the UK is desperately in need of is more staff. We need to retain those we have left<\/a>.\n\nI\u2019m a GP these days, and co-chair of Doctors\u2019 Association UK. We urge the Government to speak to groups like ours \u2013 made up of frontline staff who have lived experience of the system \u2013 to seek solutions that do not disadvantage people by making them pay.\n\nIf they don\u2019t, and proceed with introducing fees, I can\u2019t help but think: \u2018at what cost?\u2019”\n\nRead the full article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAUK co-chair Dr Ellen Welch writes about her experience in working in private healthcare and says, “I fiercely oppose Sajid Javid\u2019s proposal to introduce fees…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dauk-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}