Majority of people support fines for missed appointments
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- Published: Friday, 15 June 2018 08:20
- Written by News Editor
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Most people support fines for patients who miss GP and hospital appointments to boost NHS funding. Adding fees for patients whose diseases are triggered by unhealthy lifestyles are also popular, a survey by Ipsos MORI reveals. This finding echoes an amended motion passed at the LDC Conference in Belfast.
The survey showed that four in five adults support a 4% annual rise in funding over the next 15 years. This is the amount that the Institute of Fiscal Studies says is required to keep pace with demand and make modest improvements.
Asked how funding should be raised, the poll of more than 1,000 adults found charges for missed GP and hospital appointments won most support, backed by 71% of those polled. Next on the list was “charging patients who have diseases and illnesses caused in some way by their lifestyle”, which was backed by 47%. Both were more popular than increases in national insurance (45%) or in income tax (42%), the polling commissioned by the NHS Confederation found.
The political editor of The Times has reported that Philip Hammond is preparing to raise up to £10 billion in extra tax to help to boost the NHS on its 70th birthday. Theresa May is also to lift a cap on skilled workers from outside the EU that blocks foreign doctors from coming to Britain. The move will precede the expected announcement next week of a package of measures to improve the health service. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, wants a real-terms increase of 4 per cent a year with guarantees that spending on areas such as public health will be protected.
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