The former Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said that charging for GP appointments and A&E visits is “crucial” to the survival of the NHS.
In an article written for the Times newspaper Javid said that he wants to start a “hard-headed conversation” about the future of the health service and has attacked the “narrative of adulation” that has a “chilling effect” on discussion of changes needed to improve care and that He says that politicians of all parties must look seriously at “extending the contributory principle” and asking those who can afford it to pay for some of their treatment to discourage unnecessary appointments.
In the article he also warns “too often the appreciation for the NHS has become a religious fervour and a barrier to reform” adding that with spending higher than in countries such as Japan, Italy and New Zealand, “this is not a question of finance, but how the system operates”, attacking a “status quo where we pour ever greater amounts of money into the NHS but become increasingly unsure as to where exactly it ends up”.
He said that £20 fees for seeing a GP in Norway and Sweden as possible models, as well as Ireland’s €75 fees for going to A&E without a referral and that charges will be a “vital tool in helping the NHS ration its finite supply more effectively”.
